
-C^^v-) 





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TR ED EGAR 



CHARLES WILLIAMSON 




CHARLES WILLIAMSON. 



[Frofitis/'icie 



Charles Williamson 



t A REVIEW OF HIS LIFE 



EDITED BY 

Rev. WILLIAM MAIN, Perth 

From the Official Records of the Centennial Celebration of Bath, U.S., iSgj 



PERTH 

PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION BY 

COWAN & CO., LIMITED 

1899 



^00 Cp e- I 






PREFACE 




HIS narrative of the life and work of Charles 
Williamson in relation to the County of 
Steuben and the Village of Bath, N.Y., 
has been compiled chiefly from the " Official 
Records of the Centennial Celebration of Bath, 1893." 
In that volume the article on Charles Williamson, by 
James M'Call, Esq., and the Historical Address, by the 
Hon. Ansel J. M'Call, have been the principal sources 
of information. 

In addition, mention must be made of an apprecia- 
tive Reminiscence of Charles Williamson which appeared 
in the Bath Plaindealer on March 7, 1885, and extracts 
from Mr. Turner's " History of the Phelps and Gorham 
Purchase," which have been made available. 

Other items of information not thus obtained have 
been derived from old letters and papers which need not 
be more particularly enumerated. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



CHARLES WILLIAMSON 

THE PHELPS AND GORHAM PURCHASE 

VILLAGE OF BATH IN I 804 



Frontispiece 

to face p. 16 

81 



CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION 



PAGE 
I 



CHAPTER I 

BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE — MILITARY EXPERIENCE — A 
PRISONER OF WAR — MARRIAGE — SOJOURN IN SCOT- 
LAND — FRIENDSHIP WITH WILLIAM PITT AND 
PATRICK COLQUHOUN — APPOINTED AGENT OF THE 
GENESEE TRACT ----- 

CHAPTER H 

THE GENESEE TRACT ----- 



CHAPTER in 



EXPLORING THE TRACT — WILLIAMSBURG— THE SITE OF 

BATH — ROADMAKING — TROUBLE WITH GERMAN 

LABOURERS — THE WILLIAMSON ROAD 
ix 



Contents 



CHAPTER IV 

CLEARING THE GROUND — DANGERS AND HARDSHIPS — 
DEATH OF CHRISTINA WILLIAMSON— ARRIVAL OF 
SETTLERS — FORMATION OF THE TOWN - - 33 

CHAPTER V 

WILLIAMSON APPOINTED JUDGE OF THE COUNTY OF 
ONTARIO— EARLY POSTAL SYSTEM— GENEVA— THE 
SETTLEMENT AT SODUS, AND CONFLICT WITH THE 
BRITISH AUTHORITIES — FINAL SUBMISSION AND 
PACIFICATION OF THE INDIANS — WILLIAMSON'S 
HOSPITALITY ----- 47 

CHAPTER VI 

VISIT OF THE DUKE DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULT — EXTRACTS 

FROM HIS JOURNAL - - - - 64 

CHAPTER VII 

THE STEUBEN COUNTY — DIVISION OF TOWNS: BATH 
THE CAPITAL — THE FIRST NEWSPAPER — RELIGION 
— THE FIRST SCHOOL — THE BATH RACES — PRO- 
GRESS OF SPECULATION — COMPLETION OF TOWN 
ORGANISATION— COURTHOUSE, JAIL, AND THEATRE 



Contents 



— SETTLEMENT OF PERTHSHIRE EMIGRANTS AT BIG 
SPRINGS OR CALEDONIA— METHOD OF ALLOTMENT 74 

CHAPTER VIII 

WILLIAMSON'S PAMPHLET ON THE GENESEE COUNTRY- 
NAVIGATION OF THE RIVERS — RAFTS AND ARK- 
BUILDING — COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS — THE MAN- 
SION OF SPRINGFIELD . ... 94 

CHAPTER IX 

DISAGREEMENT OF WILLIAMSON WITH HIS PRINCIPALS — 
RESIGNATION OF THE AGENCY— RESIDENCE AT 
SPRINGFIELD — THE THORNTONS - - - 106 

CHAPTER X 

WILLIAMSON'S RETURN TO SCOTLAND— DIPLOMATIC SER- 
VICE UNDER THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT — HIS 
DEATH — TESTIMONIES TO HIS CHARACTER — HIS 
DESCENDANTS - - - - - IIS 

CHAPTER XI 

THE SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF BATH - - - 124 



Contents 



CHAPTER XII 

THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION - - - - I3I 

APPENDIX 

THE SODUS SETTLEMENT DISPUTE— LETTERS ON THE 
CRISIS BY PRESIDENT GEORGE WASHINGTON AND 
SECRETARY RANDOLPH - - - - 151 



CHARLES WILLIAMSON 



INTRODUCTION 




ORE than a hundred years ago the spot 
on which the fair and prosperous town of 
Bath, New York, now stands, was the 
undisturbed abode of the fierce wolf and 
the prowHng panther, the croaking raven and the dreary 
owl, the crawling serpent and other myriad denizens of 
Nature in her wildest state. The broad valley was 
covered with a dark and dense forest of oak and pine, 
unbroken in every direction. "The hill-tops were 
crowned with magnificent white pines, dark and sombre, 
adding at least a hundred feet to their apparent eleva- 
tion." The native Indians, to whom the forests were 
as highways, had penetrated into that wild domain, 



Charles Williamson 



but the foot of the white man had never trod the 
wilderness way, and no human settlement was there. 

To-day all this is changed. The pioneers of civili- 
sation have long since cut their way through the pathless 
forest. The ringing axe has cleared the broad valley 
of its oaks and pines. The denizens of the forest have 
been exterminated. The crowning glory of the hill-tops 
is gone. And where Nature reigned in wild uncon- 
quered splendour the strong hand of civilisation has 
produced an ordered beauty. The wiMerness and tl.e 
solitary place have- given place to rich harvest fields ; 
the pathless forest has become a town of broad streets 
and spacious squares, with highways leading to other 
centres of civilised life and activity ; where once the 
tall trees waved, churches and schools and stately 
mansions now stand; the busy hum of industry ascends 
where once only the sounds peculiar to Nature's solitude 
might have been heard ; and men ot intelli ct, energy, 
and skill, with fair women and merry children, live and 
rejoice there in the prosperity that has crowned the 
arduous, patient, and heroic labours of the man who 
laid the foundation of it all. 

The name which must for all time be pre-emintntly 
identified with this stupendous change is that of 



Introduction 



Charles Williamson, a Scotsman of keen insight and 
profound wisdom, of indomitable courage and untiring 
energy, who first saw the possibilities latent there, and 
strove with conspicuous success to make the possibilities 
actual. 

The purpose of the following pages is to give the 
story of the pre - eminent part played by this man of 
outstanding qualities in the opening of a trackless 
forest to the foot of civilisation, and in the making of 
a town which still delights to do his memory honour 
as that of one to whom, under Providence, it chiefly 
owes its present fair and prosperous state. 



CHAPTER I 

BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE — MILITARY EXPERIENCE A PRISONER 

OF WAR MARRIAGE — SOJOURN IN SCOTLAND — FRIEND- 
SHIP WITH WILLIAM PITT AND PATRICK COLQUHOUN 

APPOINTED AGENT OF THE GENESEE TRACT 




HARLES WILLIAMSON, to whose 
active and adventurous life, not only Bath 
owes its foundation, but all the fair 
region of Western New York is indebted 
for its rapid development and wonderful improvement, 
was born in Edinburgh, on the 12th July, 1757. 
He was the eldest of the three sons of Alexander 
Williamson, of Balgray, Dumfriesshire. Of the events 
of his early life there is no record, but doubtless the 
years of boyhood and youth were spent in the acquisi- 
tion of an education in accordance with the station 
into which he had been born — an education of charac- 
teristic Scottish thoroughness, which developed the keen 
intellectual faculties for which he was so distinguished 



Military Experience 



in later days. No other circumstances, also, than 
those of that early time could have been better adapted 
for the life of energy and physical endurance which 
was afterwards to be his destiny. The free and open 
air existence which was characteristic of the son of a 
country gentleman was an invaluable training for one 
who was to be first a loyal soldier of his country and 
afterwards an intrepid pioneer amid the wastes of the 
Wild West. 

Of the three sons of Alexander Williamson, two 
were destined for the army, and on the 8th March, 
1775, at the age of eighteen, Charles was gazetted as 
ensign by purchase to the 25th Regiment of Foot. 
The 25th Regiment was known as the Edinburgh Regi- 
ment, and was commanded at that time by Lord George 
Henry Lennox. On June 4th, 1777, W^illiamson was 
promoted to the rank of lieutenant, a year later he became 
captain-lieutenant, and on January 17th, 1781, he was 
gazetted as captain^ — the familiar title by which he was 
afterwards known. The war of the Revolution which 
finally achieved the independence of America was 
then at its height. In 1778 France and Spain 
had leagued themselves with America against England, 
and France held the sea. The 25th Regiment was 



Charles Williamson 



despatched on active service to America, and while 
Captain Williamson, in company with a brother officer, 
was on his way from England to join his corps the ship 
in which he sailed was attacked by a French privateer 
near the American coast. Captain Williamson joined 
the sailors in defending the ship and was severely 
wounded, but all resistance was in vain. The vessel 
was captured, and Williamson, with the others on 
board, was seized as a prisoner of war. They were 
brought into Newburyport and thence transferred to the 
depot at Boston. There, in that city of learning and 
culture. Captain Williamson, as a prisoner on parole, 
found a home in the house of Mr. Newell, whose 
daughter, Abigail, proved an accomplished companion 
and a tender nurse. For it happened that the captain 
fell ill, and Abigail, forgetting the antagonism of the 
nations at the sight of need, devoted herself so 
thoroughly to nursing the invalid that each grew to 
love the other's presence. Consequently when towards 
the end of 1781 an exchange of prisoners had 
been arranged and Captain Williamson, with liberty 
regained, resolved to set out for New York on his 
way to Scotland, Abigail Newell consented to ac- 
company him, and at New London, Conn., on 

6 



Sojourn in Scotland 



December 2, 1781, they were married by a justice of 
the peace. 

Immediately thereafter the young couple set sail 
for Scotland, where they remained for several years, 
Williamson having retired on half-pay. Their home was 
on a small family property near Dollar, Clackmannan- 
shire, and there they lived for some time in the un- 
eventful quiet of the home-life. 

Again there is no definite record of the captain's ex- 
periences during the ten years that followed his return 
to Scotland. But from a passport which has been pre- 
served and is now in the library at Bath, it appears 
that in 1784 he travelled in Germany, and in the same 
year he visited Constantinople, and made an overland 
journey from Constantinople towards Semlin in Hungary, 
of which a descriptive account is given in an interesting 
journal written by himself and still preserved. 

In 1787 he was again in Scotland, and lived at 
Balgray, his father's estate in Dumfriesshire, with his 
wife and one or two children, for two or three years. 
On September 17, 1790, he was elected a burgess of 

Lochmaben. 

About this time the attention of the capitalists of 
Europe was being attracted from the crowded land 



Charles Williamson 



ownership of the old world to the opportunities in the 
vast unsettled regions of the new. They placed their 
hope in the great, unopened resources of the wild lands 
of the West, and began those enterprises which have 
been the means of increasing so largely the world's 
prosperity and wealth. 

During his first sojourn in America, Captain William- 
son had not been unobservant of the hopeful condition 
of that country of embryonic greatness. He had re- 
turned to Scotland with his mind well furnished with 
information regarding the latent resources of America, 
and with fixed opinions on what might be achieved by 
the wisely ordered labours of bands of brave and ener- 
getic settlers. To him, therefore, the great capitalists 
of England turned as one who could speak with author- 
ity on their contemplated pioneering enterprises, and 
they eagerly sought his opinion and drew upon his 
stock of information. 

His intellectual and fine social qualities attracted 
especially the attention of William Pitt, then Prime 
Minister of England, and Patrick Colquhoun, Sheriff 
of Westminster ; and his acquaintance with those men 
of influence and power ripened into an intimacy which 
remained unbroken till death severed the ties of friend- 



Agent of the Genesee Tract 



ship. When, therefore, about this time, Franklin, the 
agent of Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution, 
sold by contract to an " Association," consisting of 
William Pulteney, William Hornby, and Patrick Col- 
quhoun, the tract of land in Western New York, consist- 
ing of over 2,000,000 acres, or 3500 square miles, 
stretching from the Pennsylvania line to Lake Ontario, 
and from Seneca lake to the Genesee river, they turned 
at once to Captain Williamson as the man to carry out 
the scheme of settling the country and disposing of 
their purchase in allotments. 

It required little persuasion to induce Williamson to 
accept the appointment of agent of the syndicate. His 
own desires made the opportunity thus afforded for 
pioneering work attractive, and the task was one for 
which he was peculiarly fitted. His education and 
physical training, his experience of military discipline, 
his courageous spirit and strength of endurance, his 
knowledge of men widened and deepened by travel, 
his business acumen and diplomacy, tact and courtesy, 
and an enthusiasm which was inspiring, all combined 
to mark him off as the one man who could successfully 
carry out the great enterprise with which he was now 
to be implicitly entrusted. 



Charles Williamson 



Having resolved to undertake the work, with charac- 
teristic energy he lost no time in beginning it. Repairing 
to Scotland, he settled his own affairs, selected a party 
of brave, ambitious, and intelligent Scotsmen to assist him 
in his new field ; and with these, among whom were John 
Johnson and Charles Cameron, and with his wife and chil- 
dren, bade farewell to his native land, and in the autumn of 
1791 sailed for Norfolk, a city and seaport of Virginia. 

There were no great steamships in those days as 
there are now, when the thousands of miles across the 
vast ocean can be traversed in a few brief days. Then 
the ocean journey had to be accomplished by the slower 
and less certain sailing vessel. And so it happened 
that the month of December had brought the year near 
its close before he landed at the port of destination. 
Thence he travelled by packet to Baltimore, where he 
provided quarters for his family for the winter, while he 
himself proceeded to Philadelphia, and, on the 9th 
January, 1792, appeared before the Supreme Court of 
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and legally qualified 
himself to hold and dispose of land by taking the 
required oath of allegiance, and becoming a citizen of 
the United States. 

Here, with his back turned upon the old world, 



Agent of the Genesee Tract 

and his face, bright with hopefulness, set steadfastly 
towards the new, let us leave him for a space to take 
a brief review of the previous transactions, already only 
hinted at, which led to his advent on the scene of his 
future labours. 



CHAPTER II 



THE GENESEE TRACT 




EFORE the War of the Revolution the 
colonies of North America derived their 
political existence from Royal charters, 
which gave them grants of territory of 
uncertain extent and indefinite boundaries, sometimes 
overlapping and covering the same domain. As a 
consequence many serious controversies, sometimes 
threatening to result in open hostilities, arose between 
the colonies about their respective rights. When the 
war broke out necessity demanded that these disputes 
should be forgotten in a federation for the attaining of 
a greater and more important end. But as soon as 
peace was declared, independence established, and 
measures taken for a more perfect union, the old 
differences broke out again and clamoured for settle- 
ment. It was insisted that the glorious result was 



The Genesee Tract 



due to the joint efforts of the whole confederation, and 
that, as a consequence, the unoccupied and disputed 
territories should become the property of the National 
Government, to be disposed of for their joint benefit. 

The dispute, out of which arose the later circum- 
stances with which we are immediately concerned, lay 
between the States of Massachusets and New York. 
Massachusets claimed certain lands within the bounds of 
the State of New York, and, failing otherwise to arrange 
their differences, a Commission was mutually appointed 
in 1786 to endeavour to effect a compromise. The 
Commission met at Hartford in November of the same 
year, and as the result of their labours a compromise 
was arrived at, which required each State to make 
certain sacrifices and to agree to certain provisions, but 
through which all questions relating to the right of 
jurisdiction and the claim of property received their 
quietus. 

" By the settlement thus effected. New York re- 
tained the right of government, sovereignty, and 
jurisdiction over all the lands in dispute, and to 
Massachusets was ceded the rights of soil or pre- 
emption of the soil from the sole occupants, the 

Seneca Indians, of 240,000 acres between the Owega 

13 



Charles Williamson 



and Chenango Rivers, commonly known as the Boston 
ten townships ; and also of all the lands in New York 
west of a line beginning at the eighty-second milestone 
on the north boundary of Pennsylvania (now the south- 
east corner of Steuben county), and running on a meridian 
line due north to Lake Ontario, excepting one mile in 
width on the Niagara River." 

The tract of country with which Captain Williamson 
afterwards had to deal lay within the latter territory thus 
defined. 

The settlement, in respect of material possessions, 
was greatly in favour of Massachusets ; but New York 
made the sacrifice involved, and the dispute being ended, 
each State settled down to its own development. 

It soon became apparent that New York State, in 
spite of her denudation, was destined to attain the proud 
distinction of being the Empire State of the Union. 
The industrious representatives of two nations — the 
Dutch and the Scotch — combined by their skill and 
thrift to achieve this greatness for the place of their 
adoption. The increasing prosperity of the State, attracted 
people from all quarters to share it ; and some of the best 
men of Massachusets, seeing in the sister State better 
opportunities and more hopeful possibilities than in their 



The Genesee Tract 



own, migrated there. Accordingly, if Massachusets by 
the compromise agreement had gained largely in material 
possessions, on the other hand she lost more largely by 
the defection of the men who alone could develop the 
resources of these possessions. Her rights in the 
extensive lands were useless to her save for their intrinsic 
value as subjects of sale, whereby her heavy pecuniary 
indebtedness might be liquidated. She therefore set 
about disposing of those which she had gained by the 
settlement. First the ten townships were sold to a Boston 
company, and afterwards on the ist April, 1788, she 
contracted to sell to Nathaniel Gorham and Oliver Phelps 
her rights in the second tract of country which had been 
assigned to her. 

The sale having been effected, Gorham and Phelps 
at once opened negotiations with the Seneca Indians, 
and at a council held at Buffalo Creek a treaty was 
concluded on the 8th July, 1788, by which they obtained 
title to the eastern portion of the tract, estimated to 
contain over 2,200,000 acres, agreeing to pay therefor 
5,000 dollars down and an annuity of 500 dollars. 

This tract, running from the Pennsylvania line on 

the south to Lake Ontario on the north, and from the 

Seneca Lake on the east to the Genesee River on the 

15 



Charles Williamson 



west, became known as the Genesee Tract, and Included 

what is now Steuben county, so named after Baron von 

Steuben, a distinguished general in the American War 

of Independence. Phelps and Gorham at once caused 

the tract to be divided into ranges of townships six miles 

square, and, opening an office at Canandaigua, began the 

sale of their purchase. But the lands were far removed 

from the centres of civilisation, and the difficulty of 

reaching these centres was increased by the want of 

high-roads of communication, while the navigation of the 

rivers was generally difficult and at some points almost 

impossible. As a consequence sales were slow, and 

this fact, added to a rise in the value of securities in 

which payment was to be made, involved the proprietors 

in financial difficulties. They appealed for help to the 

great financier of the Revolution, Robert Morris, already 

mentioned, who responded by purchasing from them their 

unsold lands, except two townships which were reserved, 

and assuming their obligations. Morris at once caused 

the lands to be ofiered for sale in London. An English 

syndicate was formed, consisting of William Pulteney, 

William Hornby, and Patrick Colquhoun, who contracted 

with Morris for the purchase of the lands for the sum 

of ^75,000; and thus the territory which had been in 

16 




The Phelps and Gorham Purchase. 



VTo 



The Genesee Tract 



part the cause of so much dispute between two sister 
States, and of embarrassment to its subsequent owners, 
became the possession of English capitalists, who, because 
they were fortunate enough to find the right man to 
work it for them, made it yield a rich return. 

It was impossible at this time for aliens legally to 
hold title to land in the State of New York. Accordingly, 
in appointing an agent the syndicate had not only to 
consider his fitness to carry out the pioneering work 
which their enterprise necessitated, but also his commercial 
ability and integrity, which would justify them in reposing 
in him the trust of taking over the lands absolutely in 
his own name, and thereafter of conveying such lands as 
they deemed it advisable to sell. It was a great trust, 
but the history of the next few years shows how 
thoroughly Captain Williamson proved himself worthy 
of his patrons' confidence. 



CHAPTER III 

EXPLORING THE TRACT — WILLIAMSBURG — THE SITE OF BATH 

ROADMAKING TROUBLE WITH GERMAN LABOURERS 

THE WILLIAMSON ROAD 




^"TMl AVING legally qualified himself to hold and 
'^ dispose of land in the State of New York, 
Williamson entered into direct communi- 
cation with Morris, whom he probably met 
at Philadelphia, for the conclusion of the contract. But 
before completing the negotiations, and with the view of 
obtaining some idea of the lands of the purchase and his 
subsequent task, he made a journey of examination by 
way of Albany and the Mohawk Valley to the Genesee 
country. From his own pen we have the following 
graphic description of the condition of the route he 
travelled : — " The road, as far as Whitestown, had been 
made passable for waggons, but from that to the Genesee 
was little better than an Indian path, sufficiently opened 



Exploring the Tract 



to allow a sledge to pass, and some impassable streams 
bridged. At Whitestown I was obliged to change my 
carriage, the Albany driver getting alarmed for himself 
and horses when he found that for the next one hundred 
miles we were not only obliged to take provisions for 
ourselves, but for our horses, and blankets for our beds. 
On leaving Whitestown we found only a few straggling 
huts, scattered along the path, from ten to twenty miles 
from each other, and they affording nothing but the 
conveniency of and a kind of shelter from the snow." 
Passing through the northern portion of the territory 
he reached the confluence of the Canaseraga and Genesee 
Rivers, and there fixed upon a site on which to build a 
town, to be called Williamsburg in honour of two of his 
patrons, William Pulteney and William Hornby. His 
preliminary exploration convinced him of the beauty and 
richness of the country and satisfied him as to its value, 
and returning to Philadelphia he received on nth April, 
1792, in his own name from Robert Morris and his wife, 
in pursuance of the agreement, a deed of the lands there- 
after known as the Estate of the English Association, 

The purchase having been completed, he proceeded 
without loss of time to begin the work of opening up the 

country. As Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey were 

19 



Charles Williamson 



well-populated and more contiguous to his purchase than 
New England, he saw the necessity of opening a more 
direct communication to the Genesee from those States. 
Accordingly, he made Northumberland, Pennsylvania, a 
large settlement at the junction of the north and west 
branches of the Susquehanna, the base of his operations, 
and moved his family to this frontier town. On the 3rd 
June, 1792, with a small party of surveyors and woodsmen 
he set out to explore a route to the Genesee River. He 
proceeded with his party up the west branch of the 
Susquehanna to the mouth of the Lycoming, and then 
entered the wilderness, taking a northerly course. In 
his own narrative he says : " Sensible of the advantages 
this new country would reap from a communication with 
Pennsylvania, my first object was to trace out the 
possibility of opening a communication across the Allegany 
Mountains. Discouraged by every person I inquired of 
for information relative to the route, I determined to 
explore the country myself. After a laborious exertion 
of ten days I came to the Cowanesque Creek, when I 
first perceived that I was in the county of Ontario. The 
route, though very mountainous, was not impracticable for 
a waggon road. Proceeding thence towards the north- 
north-west, after six days more travelling I and my party 



Exploring the Tract 



pitched our tents on an Indian clearing at the junction 
of the Caneseraga and Genesee Rivers, near where 
Williamsburg had been located." By this route he was 
satisfied that a good highway was practicable, the distance 
being less than one hundred and seventy miles, and 
shorter by one hundred from the west branch of the 
Susquehanna ; and so he resolved at once to open a 
waggon road through the wilderness. 

The exploration of this route led also to a 
change in his plans. He discovered that the south- 
east portion of the tract was rough and hilly, much of 
it timbered with pitch-pine and scrub-oaks, and by no 
means to be compared with the rich bottoms of the 
Genesee on the smooth slopes surrounding the Lakes. 
It was at once apparent to him that if he put upon the 
market the best lands first, the poor and broken lands 
would remain on his hands for a long time. He also 
saw that the forbidding part of the country had some 
advantages ; it was nearer the southern settlements, 
more healthful, and abounded in purer streams ; so he 
resolved to make his headquarters and chief settlement 
in their midst, saying, " As Nature has done so much 
for the northern plains, I will do something for the 
southern mountains." 



Charles Williamson 



As he proceeded through the valley of the 
Conhocton, he was struck with the beauty of the 
intersection made by a broad valley extending north 
to Lake Keuka ; the Seneca Indians had given it the 
name of Dona-ta-gwenda (an opening within an opening). 
As it was near the centre of the southern part of the 
tract, and at the head of navigation on the Conhocton 
River, with its abundant water-power, he determined to 
locate there his chief town, and the headquarters for 
the sale of his lands. The site bore a striking resem- 
blance to that beautiful valley in England where the 
Avon winds gracefully around the base of a hill and 
encircles a charming plateau upon which has stood for 
centuries the ancient city of Bath, in the English county 
of Somerset. This resemblance, together with the 
fact that about the same time the only daughter of 
Williamson's patron, William Pulteney, was created 
Baroness Bath, suggested the name which from its 
foundation has been applied to the settlement which 
was there planted in the forest — the town of Bath. 

The first work of the pioneer was the construction 
of a highway through the wilderness in the line of his 
survey. For help in the work of opening up that part 
of the road which lay within the State of Pennsylvania, 



Roadmaking 

Captain Williamson applied to the Governor of the 

State. It was a moderate and reasonable request, and 

one which it might have been expected would at once 

have been granted in consideration of the connection 

which would thus be effected between the State and 

the latent resources of the new country. But the 

application was refused, and it would seem that there 

was even some difficulty in getting the consent of the 

State to build the road without her assistance, for 

Williamson has been considered fortunate in obtaining 

this permission. Thus thrown upon his own resources, 

the intrepid pioneer, far from being discouraged, was 

stimulated to increased energy and endeavour. If 

Pennsylvania would not help him he must do the work 

himself, and he was not the man to shrink from the 

entire task. Collecting a number of stout Pennsylvania 

woodsmen, the arduous labour of constructing the road 

which should join the Genesee country to the civilisation 

of the south at once began. This band was under the 

charge of two overseers, Hammond and Brown, and its 

work went steadily on. In addition there were at first 

no fewer than one hundred and twenty Germans employed 

in the same labour, but the Germans proved a source 

of trouble and annoyance. Their presence on the field 

23 



Charles Williamson 



of operations was due to an action of Patrick Colquhoun 
who, without consulting Wilhamson, had arranged with 
one Berezy to collect a colony of steady German farmers 
to be settled in the Genesee country, whither they were 
to be carried free, and where they were to be supplied 
with twenty-five acre farms at reduced rates. But when 
the greater number of them arrived in Philadelphia, 
instead of New York, where it was agreed to land them, 
they proved to be a motley crowd of loafers and mal- 
contents which poverty, laziness, and necessity had 
gathered together in Hamburg. They were entirely 
unsuited for the purpose of the agreement, and Robert 
Morris concluded that the only way out of the difficulty 
was to use them in cutting the road to the future 
settlement. 

In spite of every difficulty and hindrance the road- 
making made rapid progress. Early in November, 
1792, thirty miles of it, sufficiently wide for waggons, 
had been opened, and by the end of the year the work- 
ing party had completed it to Dansville, Livingston 
County. 

While the workmen laboured, Williamson was busy 

superintending the progress of the work, and exploring 

other parts of the Genesee tract. In January, 1793, 

24 



The German Labourers 



he went to Philadelphia and to New York, where he 
remained until February 6th. But on that date a hurried 
courier from the busy scenes in the midst of the 
wilderness brought him word that the trouble with 
the Germans, which had begun with their coming, had 
reached a crisis. From the first they had been lazy and 
shiftless, ungrateful for the means of livelihood that had 
been placed to their hand, concerned only for their own 
eating and drinking, yet unwilling to work for the 
same. They fiddled and danced and drank whisky ; 
and even a clergyman who had come with them proved 
a bad specimen of his cloth. It transpired that Berezy 
had not only deceived Colquhoun, but had also deceived 
his emigrants. To swell his numbers, and gratify his 
ambition to be the head of a colony, he had held out 
to them the most attractive promises ; had assured them 
that, his patrons being rich, they should want for no- 
thing, and that, as they were to be the founders of a 
city, they could each choose such employment as was 
best suited to their tastes and habits. That they were 
to dig and delve in the dirty earth was not in the bond 
according to their understanding. When they dis- 
covered by experience the real state of affairs and the 
actual work which they were expected to perform, 

25 



Charles Williamson 



universal discontent speedily followed and mutterings of 
rebellion were soon heard. Berezy in many ways nursed 
the mutinous spirit. By indulgence and other artful 
devices he obtained complete control of the colonists, 
and finally set himself above Captain Williamson, claiming 
to have brought his authority directly from headquarters 
in London. A store had been established at Williamsburg 
under the care of John Johnstone, and Berezy and the 
Germans used its goods and provisions lavishly ; and, in 
addition, Berezy contracted debts for supplies, assuming 
that he was acting for the Association and not under 
the authority of Williamson. 

The discontent and disaffection of the German emi- 
grants had at last broken out into open mutiny which, 
apart from the safety of those who were unfortunately 
associated with them, threatened the success of the 
operations. Williamson returned in haste to Northum- 
berland, and thence, accompanied by his friend Thomas 
Morris, went on to the scene of operations to confer 
with Berezy, who had been the means of importing and 
encouraging the mutinous crew. He had a house at 
Williamsburg, then occupied by James Miller, where he 
kept a desk containing all his papers that had reference 

to that locality ; and there he and his friend took up 

26 



The German Labourers 



their quarters. Sending for Berezy he had an interview 
with him, which ended by his displacing him as an 
agent and forbidding him to exercise any authority over 
the Germans. Then, calHng the Germans together, he 
informed them of their new relations, and proposed 
measures of further assistance to them, conditional upon 
their going to work and trying to help themselves. At 
first they were disposed to listen to his proposals, but 
the superior influence of Berezy prevailed, and further 
mutiny and riot succeeded. On the Sunday afterwards, 
Williamson says, " Berezy and the minister were all 
day pow-wowing in every house in the settlement. 
Monday came, and Williamson found his quarters be- 
sieged. The Germans had collected in a body, and, 
under the influence of Berezy, were making extravagant 
demands as to the terms of peace and their continuance 
in the colony. Captain Williamson retreated into the 
house with his friends, Morris and Johnstone and 
several others — in all a force vastly inferior to the 
refractory colonists. " Driven into a corner between 
two writing-desks," says Williamson, " I had luckily, 
some of my own people near me who were able to 
keep the most savage and daring of the Germans 

off, though the cry was to lay hold of me. Nothing 

27 



Charles Williamson 



could equal my situation but some of the Parisian 

scenes, and I was for an hour and a half in this 

situation, every instant expecting to be torn in 

pieces." 

Berezy, finding that the storm he had raised had 

become too violent, quelled it ; but rapine took the 

place of personal assault. The cattle on the premises 

were driven off, or killed to furnish a feast for a general 

carousal. The mutiny and plundering lasted for several 

days, there being no authority or superior force to quell 

it. At one time the physician of the colony who, though 

a German, had taken sides with Captain Williamson, 

became the object of the fiercest resentment. He was 

seized, and in attempting to rescue him Morris and 

Johnstone were assaulted and their lives placed in 

jeopardy, though finally they made their escape. Present 

in all the affray was Richard Cuyler, then acting as 

Captain Williamson's clerk. He was despatched to 

Albany with a requisition to Governor George Clinton 

for a force sufficient to quell the riot and apprehend the 

rioters. Berezy, with a few of the Germans, departed 

for Philadelphia, for the double purpose of escaping 

arrest and enlisting Robert Morris on their side. 

Governor Clinton issued an order to Judah Colt, who 

28 



The German Labourers 



had been appointed sheriff of the new county of Ontario, 

commanding him to summon a posse for the arrest of 

the rioters. A posse equal in numbers with the German 

colonists was no easy matter to secure at that early 

period of settlement ; but, fortunately, some boats' crews 

and new settlers had just arrived at Bath. They made 

a forced march through the woods and, joined by others, 

succeeded in arresting those who had been foremost in 

the riot. They were taken to Canandaigua, and light 

fines imposed, the principal object being the assertion of 

the supremacy of the laws. Unable to pay the fines 

they were hired out to new settlers in Canandaigua and 

the vicinity to earn the money. Berezy going from 

Philadelphia to New York put the Germans and himself 

under the auspices of a German benevolent association, 

who had made arrangements with Governor Simcoe for 

settling emigrants in the township of Markham at what 

is now Toronto. 

Thus ended the trouble with the German emigrants. 

Their unfortunate importation resulted in a dead loss ; 

for when, in a letter of date November 2, 1793, 

Williamson washed his hands of the whole business, he 

stated that he had expended some ;^8,ooo on them 

since they landed, for which there was little to show 

29 



Charles Williamson 



in return. The trial of the rioters cost more money, 
and, being followed by certain processes of litigation, 
the costs largely increased the amount of unproductive 
expenditure. 

Amid all the worry and trouble involved by this 
irritating experience, progress in the work of road- 
making was being constantly reported, and in August, 
1793, it was completed to Williamsburg. It was a 
triumph of skill and energy, patience and perseverance, 
endurance and courage ; and no one can justly withhold 
the meed of praise from him who, with his stout band 
of pioneers, independent of State aid, without an inhabi- 
tant to furnish encouragement and labour, devoid of 
many of the materials of construction, and often without 
sure supplies of food, cast up a highway in the wilderness, 
by means of which the wilderness itself was transformed 
into well-ordered and prosperous abodes of civilisation. 
It has ever since been known as the Williamson Road, 
and was subsequently adopted as the post route. 

This road was but the first of many others which 

proved the most successful means of opening and starting 

the settlements. Captain Williamson was quick to see 

the value of the construction of roads. He said that 

fifty families settled on the State Road in the space of 

3° 



The Williamson Road 



four months after it was opened, and he and his com- 
pany constructed many roads, thus opening the lands 
for sale to the early settlers as a matter of public 
policy. 

The great road having been finished as far as was 
necessary for the point selected for the new town, Captain 
Williamson, as soon as navigation was opened in March, 
1793, organised a party of thirty woodsmen, surveyors, 
and settlers to proceed at once to the site previously 
selected by him, in order to clear the ground and lay 
the foundations of his new town and settlement. The 
party was placed in charge of his faithful assistant, Charles 
Cameron, who had accompanied him from Scotland. 
They set out in two Durham boats laden with tools, 
provisions, and other necessaries, and made their way 
up the north branch of the Susquehanna to Tioga Point. 
The boats carried from five to eight tons, and were 
poled up the stream, or where there was a strong 
current or rift, were cordelled or warped up by the 
passengers and crew by means of long ropes. From 
the Point the navigation was more difficult. It was 
found impossible to manage both boats, and accordingly 
Cameron left one of them at the Point, with much of 

the freight, in charge of a few men, and proceeded 

31 



Charles Williamson 



with the other up the Chemung and Conhocton. With 
much difficulty, and after overcoming many obstructions 
caused by rocks and fallen trees, they at last, on April 
15, made a safe landing on the banks of the Conhocton 
at the chosen site, near the present location of the 
Delaware and Lackawanna depot, and a little more 
than thirty rods from what is now known as Pulteney 
Square in Bath. 

And there their hazardous journey ended. There 
lay the scene of the heavy toil which should first clear 
the forest of its giant trees and tangled underwood, and 
then build a city which should furnish homes and happi- 
ness for themselves and those who have now entered 
into their labours. 



32 



CHAPTER IV 

CLEARING THE GROUND DANGERS AND HARDSHIPS DEATH 

OF CHRISTINA WILLIAMSON ARRIVAL OF SETTLERS — • 

FORMATION OF THE TOWN 




ITH a Stern task before them, involving the 

most arduous toils and many privations, the 

pioneers bravely settled to their work. 

Two days after Cameron and his party 

had reached the site ot Bath, Captain Williamson arrived. 

Finding it necessary, however, to visit other portions of 

the tract, he went on to Canandaigua and Williamsburg, 

but, after a brief absence, returned to give his personal 

attention to the foundation of his forest city. To Cameron 

and his party was given the work of clearing the ground 

and making rustic cabins in which to shelter themselves, 

and afterwards of erecting a log building on what is now 

the south side of Pulteney Square, of sufficient capacity 

for the accommodation of Captain Williamson's family 

33 c 



Charles Williamson 



and the transaction of his official business. To Thomas 
Rees, jr., the surveyor, and his staff of assistants, was 
assigned the task of planning the town, locating the 
streets and squares, and numbering the lots ; and thus 
divided, the labour was performed with marvellous 
celerity. 

The once solitary place was now the scene of busy 
life. The workers worked with a willing cheerfulness. 
The giant pines fell beneath their resounding strokes, 
and the forest became a plain. The ox - teams carried 
the timber to the builders, in the place of trees log- 
houses were erected, and the hand of the indefatigable 
toiler transformed the wilderness into the abode of 
civilisation. Amid the throng of his busy workmen the 
inspiring presence of Charles Williamson was always 
prominent. All the operations received his personal 
superintendence, and at his word of cheer and encourage- 
ment the weary forgot their weariness, the willing worker 
became more willing, and the faint - hearted plucked up 
courage to face the hardships and dangers with which 
the work was attended. 

And, in truth, they needed all the encouragement 

which even Williamson could give. The dangers that 

threatened them came not only from the hazardous nature 

34 



Dangers and Hardships 



of the task in which they were engaged, but also from 
the possibiHty of attacks upon them by the Indians, who 
had made the unbroken forest lands their hunting-ground, 
and who, when the clearing of the trees began, must 
have felt that their preserves were being rudely invaded. 
That the natural anxiety on this account was removed, 
and that no attack was made, was entirely due to the 
consummate tact and courtesy of Captain Williamson. 
It was his first care to cultivate a friendly feeling and 
relationship with the North American Indians. He strove 
to show that he and his band had come, not as enemies, 
but as friends, and he succeeded in inspiring the Indians 
with confidence in him by his trust in them. An inter- 
esting little incident in illustration of this, though it 
belongs to a slightly later date, may here be mentioned. 
When his little daughter was born, the Indians heard 
of it, and reported the event to their squaws. The Indian 
women, eager to see a white baby, persuaded a chief 
and some of his followers to go to Williamson's house 
and ask if they might take the baby to one of their 
wigwams, which was pitched at no great distance from 
the settlement. It was a hard thing to ask, and one 
which tried to the utmost the faith of Williamson in his 

dusky friends. But he resolved to make the risk in 

35 



Charles Williamson 



order to prove his confidence, and, the consent of the 
mother having been obtained, the baby, well wrapped 
up, was entrusted to the chief. The confidence was not 
misplaced, for a few hours later the child, who must 
have created an excited interest in the native camp, 
was brought safely back and restored to the arms of 
her mother. 

Acts of faith and friendship like this must have 
gone far to cement the relationship which Williamson 
desired to effect. But this relationship could not be 
attained at once, and it is little wonder if, in addition 
to the other dangers and hardships which they were 
daily called upon to face, the pioneers at first toiled 
on with much apprehension from the Indians, which 
kept them continually on their guard. 

The hardships and privations arising from their 

physical conditions were such as were trying to the 

most dauntless spirits. They were far removed from the 

haunts of civilisation, and the sense of their isolation 

must have weighed upon them with depressing effect. 

The labour of clearing away the forest and subduing 

the soil was heavy, and taxed their energies to the 

utmost. Every day fresh obstacles, unknown and hardly 

understood by those who have not experienced them, 

36 



Dangers and Hardships 



demanded their best skill and most steadfast courage 

in the task of overcoming. In addition, their food 

supplies were short, and it was difficult to add to them. 

There was indeed an abundance of game in the forest, 

and of fish in the river, but the workmen were too busy 

to take them. Whisky was plentiful ; but their fare, 

which consisted chiefly of pork, flour, and corn-meal, 

was coarse in quality and deficient in quantity. The 

meagreness of the necessaries of life told upon them 

heavily. Charles Cameron, in 1848, in referring to the 

expedition, said : " We suffered from hunger and 

sickness a great deal. I am now the only survivor of 

those merry Scotch and Irish boys who used to be so 

happy together." Turner, in his history of the Phelps 

and Gorham purchase, states: "These pioneers had a 

distinct view of the elephant. Provisions failed, and 

they were at one time three days without food ; as they 

cleared away the forest, the fever and ague, as it was 

wont to do, walked into the opening, and the new-comers 

were soon freezing, shaking, and then burning with 

fever in their hastily-constructed cabins." Williamson 

was far from being exempt from these sufferings. He 

bore his share of them with hardihood, and his example 

stimulated the others. Turner, quoting an unknown 

37 



Charles Williamson 



authority, says : " He would lie in his hut with his feet 
to the fire, and, when the cold chills of ague came on, 
call for someone to lie close to his back to keep him 
warm." Yet though suffering acutely his first thought 
was never for himself, but always for others ; and, as 
has been said, his bright, cheering presence passed from 
man to man, and imparted the needful inspiration in 
those hard times. 

But if those trials and hardships were at first 
depressing and discouraging, when met in the brave 
spirit which Williamson inculcated by word and act, 
they reacted with moral compensation on the character 
of the pioneers. Adversity, when rightly regarded, 
received, and used, ever becomes an instrument for good 
in the lives of men. And in the case of these men 
their dangers tended to produce an alert and resourceful 
character. The hardships and obstacles that had to 
be met and conquered inspired self-confidence, and 
made them — through stern discipline — braver, hardier, 
and more enterprising. And those hardships and dangers 
being common to all, there sprang up among them a 
strong feeling of sympathy and brotherhood which knit 
them together in a mutual helpfulness, which had not 
been attained so largely in any other way 



Dangers and Hardships 



Thus disciplined and cheered, the pioneers made 
rapid progress with their work. The huts of the work- 
men, and Williamson's house and office, were first erected. 
Then on the north side of what is now Morris Street 
a log structure was built as an hotel for John Metcalf, 
where after the labours of the day the workers gathered 
to recount their experiences, and spend the evening in 
brotherly fellowship. On the Conhocton River a site 
was secured by James Henderson, the mill-wright, who, 
with his staff of workmen, began at once to build a 
saw-mill to furnish boards for floors, doors, and roofs, 
for the structures that were to be put up. It was the 
first saw-mill in the town, and was completed on the 
25 th August. 

In addition to the dangers and hardships that were 
peculiar to all, Williamson had to overcome an antagon- 
ism directed against himself. He was a foreigner, and 
had held a commission in the British Army, with whom 
a large portion of American settlers had just been con- 
tending on hard-fought battlefields. Arms had, indeed, 
been grounded, but feelings of resentment and prejudice 
were rife. The possession of Fort Niagara and Oswego, 
the British claims on the territory of Western New 

York, and their tampering with the Western Indians, 

39 



Charles Williamson 



served to keep alive those feelings. Although Captain 
Williamson had, from the time he landed in America, 
given the strongest evidence that he intended to merge 
himself with the disenthralled colonies and to throw off 
all allegiance to Great Britain, still he encountered 
jealousy and distrust. In recapitulating to Sir William 
Pulteney, toward the close of the agency, the difficulties 
he had encountered, he makes the following remarks : 
" Even previous to 1 794 there was a strong predisposi- 
tion against everything that was British. This was 
more particularly the case in those parts of the back 
country adjacent to the British settlements, and where, 
from the influence of the British Government with the 
Indians, there was too much reason to fear that hostilities 
would be directed against their infant settlements. Their 
jealousies met me in a hundred mortifying instances, 
and they were with difficulty prevented from having 
the most disagreeable effects both to me and every old 
countryman in the settlements. To such an extent was 
this carried that every road I talked of was said to be 
for the purpose of admitting the Indians and British ; 
every set of arms I procured — though really to enable 
the settlers to defend themselves against the Indians 

— was said to be for supplying the expected enemy ; 

40 



Dangers and Hardships 



and the very grass seed I bought, for the purpose of 
supplying the farmers, was seized as gunpowder going 
to the enemies of the country." He also alleges that 
these distrusts and opposition to his movements were en- 
hanced by influential individuals who were interested in 
the sale of wild lands in other localities. All this, 
however, gradually wore off, and he won the favour of 
those who had at first distrusted him. 

About the loth July, Captain Williamson's wife 
and two children arrived in Bath from Northumberland, 
and were duly installed in the home that had been 
prepared for them. The arrival of his family was an 
important event in the history of the settlement. He 
caused them to come in order that others should see 
that they also might bring their families there before 
the stumps were finally cleared away, and while the 
rattlesnakes still abounded ; and Mrs. Williamson de- 
serves praise for thus helping her husband in his enter- 
prise by his characteristic method of example. The 
example was followed, for in his own narrative the 
captain states that before the winter set in no fewer 
than fifteen families had settled in the town. Besides 
his own, the only families that are now known to have 
been livincr there at that time were those of Metcalf, 



Charles Williamson 



Doyle, Dunn, Corbett, Turner, Aulls, Paul, and a German 
family named Gottlieb. 

Previous to this, Williamson had advised Patrick 
Colquhoun, who had the management of the affairs of 
the syndicate, of the name and location of the town ; 
and in a letter, dated June 15, 1793, Colquhoun expressed 
his approval. " I am glad," he wrote, " you are so 
much pleased with your new town of Bath. I hope 
it may prove a healthy spot, for on this much depends. 
It is certainly a position infinitely more convenient than 
Williamsburg, and on this account I am glad you mean 
to fix your residence there." 

On the 27th September the shadow of death 

darkened the home of the Williamsons ; for on that 

date their eldest daughter, Christina, died at the early 

age of eight years, and the little domestic circle was 

broken. It was a pathetic coincidence that the man 

who first brought his family to establish the city of the 

living, should also be called upon to found there, through 

this painful bereavement, the city of the dead. " Not 

one of the great pines was cut," we are told, " in the 

plot which was thus early selected for a burial place, 

and we may see the little company of perhaps a dozen 

persons carrying a little coffin into the forest, and 

42 



Death of Christina Williamson 

without a clergyman to lead the service, amid their 

tears depositing the remains of the loved child in the 

first grave opened for a white person in the new town." 

The cemetery thus opened contemporaneously with the 

founding of Bath is situated in Steuben Street, and a 

well-preserved stone marks that little grave now a 

century old. 

On the first day of January, 1794, Henry M'Elwee, 

a young Scoto- Irishman, arrived at Bath, and his account 

of his coming, and the condition in which he found the 

settlement is interesting. "I only found," he says, "a 

few shanties in the woods. Williamson had his house 

near the site of the present land office, and the Metcalfs 

kept a log tavern upon Morris Street, nearly opposite 

the Mansion House. I went to the tavern, and asked 

for supper and lodging ; they said they could give me 

neither, for their house was full. I could get nothing 

to eat. An old Dutchman was sitting there who 

offered me food and lodging, and we went up through 

the woods to where St. Patrick Square now is. There 

the Dutchman had a little log-house ; there was no 

floor to it. I made a supper of mush and milk, and 

laid down by the fire and slept soundly." M'Elwee 

was enlisted in the work of the settlement, and in the 

43 



Charles Williamson 



spring of the year, under the direction of Williamson, 

he made the first substantial clearings, consisting of 

the site of Pulteney Square, and four acres behind the 

agent's house for a garden, for the cultivation of which 

Captain Williamson imported a gardener from England. 

The trees on the square were carefully chopped close 

to the ground. A single pine was left standing in 

front of the agency-house for a " Liberty Tree." It 

was trimmed so as to leave a tuft on the top, and it 

bade defiance to the elements until after 1820, when it 

was blown down. 

In the spring of 1794, George M'Clure, another 

Scoto- Irishman, in company with his uncle, John Moore, 

from Northumberland, after various adventures, reached 

the new town. "We put up," he says, "at the only 

house of entertainment in the village — if it could be 

called a house. Its construction was of pitch-pine logs, 

in two apartments, one storey high, kept by a kind 

and obliging family of the name of Metcalf. This house 

was the only one in town, except a similar one for the 

temporary abode of Captain Williamson, which answered 

the purpose of parlour, dining - room, and land office. 

There were besides some shanties for mechanics and 

labourers. I called on Captain Williamson, and intro- 

44 



Arrival of Settlers 



duced myself as a mechanic. I told him that I had 
seen his advertisement, and in pursuance of his invita- 
tion had come to ask employment. ' Very well,' said he, 
' young man, you shall not be disappointed.' He told 
me I should have the whole of his work if I could 
procure as many hands as were necessary. We entered 
into an agreement. He asked me when I should be 
ready to commence business. I replied, as soon as I 
could return to Northumberland, engage some hands, 
and send my tools and baggage up the north branch 
to Tioga Point, that being then the head of boat navi- 
gation." As agreed, M'Clure went back, shipped his 
baggage and tools, and forthwith returned to Bath on 
foot, procured his effects at Tioga Point, boated them 
up, and commenced with a will to build up the town. 

Those men were but samples of a large number 
of settlers who, in 1794, found their way to Bath and 
helped to make it. Williamson welcomed them, and 
apportioned their lots. The town began to assume an 
ordered shape, and streets and squares made the wilder- 
ness a thing of the past. Out of compliment to his 
friends and patrons, the captain named the principal 
street running east and west, Morris ; the public square, 

Pulteney ; the broad street parallel to it, with a similar 

45 



Charles Williamson 



square, St. Patrick ; the street between them, Steuben ; 
and that connecting them, Liberty — names which they 
have ever since borne, except St. Patrick, which a few 
years ago was changed to Washington. 

The idea from the first was to provide for the 
growth of an important city ; and although afterwards 
the failure of the Conhocton's water supply, the building 
of the Erie Canal, and the invention of the steam 
locomotive, seriously interfered to destroy commercial 
relations with Baltimore, and the dream of Williamson 
has never been fully realised, yet the town has developed 
to an extent which justifies the pride of its inhabitants, 
and the associations that cluster around its beginning 
and continued progress are such as may be remembered 
with orratitude and interest. 



46 



CHAPTER V 

WILLIAMSON APPOINTED JUDGE OF THE COUNTY OF ONTARIO 

EARLY POSTAL SYSTEM GENEVA THE SETTLEMENT 

AT SODUS, AND CONFLICT WITH THE BRITISH AUTHORI- 
TIES — FINAL SUBMISSION AND PACIFICATION OF THE 

INDIANS — Williamson's hospitality 




ARLY in the history of the settlement, 
Williamson entertained political aspira- 
tions which prompted him to seek elec- 
tion as a member of the Legislative 
Counsel of New York. But these aspirations were for 
the time set aside in deference to the advice of Robert 
Morris. " My own opinion is," wrote Morris to William- 
son in April, 1793, " that you and Tom (the son of 
Morris) might be better employed than you would be in 
going as members of the Assembly. He is too young, 
and you ought always to be at the receipt of customs 

in Ontario County for the sale of lands. ... 1 think 

47 



Charles Williamson 



you can't be judge and representative." In the next 
year, however, Thomas Morris represented Ontario 
County in the Legislature, and Captain Williamson was 
appointed a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and 
General Sessions of the same county. 

As yet there were no towns with prescribed bound- 
aries in the county. The Act of the Legislature erecting 
the county of Ontario provided that the Justices of the 
Sessions should proceed to divide the new county into 
two or more districts for town purposes. They had, in 
1791, made the "District of the Painted Post," which 
embraced the entire territory of the present county of 
Steuben. 

All the settlers at that time were located on the 
Chemung, Tioga, and Canisteo Rivers. In 1793, Jedediah 
Stephens, of Canisteo, was elected Supervisor of the dis- 
trict. At the January session, 1794, through the influence 
of Captain Williamson, a new district was made, em- 
bracing all the territory west of the second range, under 
the name of Williamson. This appears by the adjust- 
ment of certain accounts between the district of Erwin, 
or Painted Post, and the district of Williamson, made 
by Eli Mead and Eleazer Lindsley, of the first part, 
and by Jedediah Stephens and George Harnell, of the 



Early Postal System 



other, on April, 1794, recorded in the minutes of the 
district of Painted Post. There is no record of this 
division to be found in the Clerk's office of Ontario 
County. Bath was included in the new district ; but 
when and where its town meetings were held is not now 
known. 

Up to this time there were few post-roads or post- 
offices in the country. The nearest place for deposit 
of letters on the south was at Northumberland, one 
hundred and forty miles distant. To meet the want, 
Captain Williamson employed his own post - riders to 
journey to and from that place, and they made the trip 
once a fortnight. Thomas Corbett rode to the Block 
House and exchanged packages with Alexander Smith, 
of Lycoming, who filled the route from that place to 
Northumberland. Charles Cameron was the local dis- 
tributor of letters at Bath until his removal to Sodus, 
when William Kersey performed the duties until the 
Government office was established on January i, 1801, 
with Dugald Cameron as postmaster. 

In the spring of 1794 W^illiamson began to develop a 

settlement at what became known as Geneva. The 

settlement was established at a point which made it the 

door or gateway to the Genesee country ; it was ncces- 

49 D 



Charles Wiiliamson 



sary, therefore, to make it as attractive as possible. 

The principal building erected was the Geneva Hotel. 

It was completed in December, and opened with a 

grand ball. The hotel was talked of far and wide as 

a wonderful enterprise, and its reputation ran high. 

Even after a lapse of fifty years, when fine hotels had 

arisen in all the principal towns and villages of the 

Genesee Tract, it was said of the old Williamson Hotel, 

as it was called, that in its fine location, with its large 

open park in front, it was ranked as one of the first 

class. How great, then, must have been its comparative 

magnificence when it had no competitors in all the 

region west of Utica, save perhaps three or four 

moderate-sized framed taverns, and when log taverns 

were generally the order of the day. In proposing the 

erection of such a house to his principals, Williamson 

uro-ed that, as it would stand at the doorway or entrance 

to the Genesee country, it should be respectable, and so 

designed as to make a favourable impression ; and that 

such a house, where all the comforts of a good English 

inn could be realised, would invite respectable people to 

the country. As the landlord of the new hotel 

Williamson appointed Thomas Powell, whom he had 

known in London in connection with the celebrated 

5° 



G 



eneva 



" Thatched Cottage, the resort of statesmen, politicians, 
and wits." Mr. Powell became at an early stage proprietor. 
After keeping the hotel for many years, he removed to 
Schenectady, and was succeeded by his brother William 
Powell. 

Although Captain Williamson's house was at Bath, 
a large proportion of his time was spent at Geneva 
attending to matters connected with the Northern 
division of the purchase. The company that he drew 
around him made a very considerable business for the 
new hotel, and it was the early home of the young men 
without families located at Geneva, and the principal 
stopping-place for emigrants, who could afford the com- 
forts of a good inn. Under the auspices of Reed and 
Ryckmann, Joseph Annin, and Benjamin Barton, a 
small village plot had been surveyed ; but this was 
superseded under Captain Williamson's instructions by 
a new, enlarged survey generally as now indicated, 
except that Williamson's plan contemplated the building 
up of the whole town fronting the Lake, and the making 
of the space betwef^n the main street and the Lake into 
terraced parks and gardens. Geneva is now, though 
beautiful in all its appointments, more upon the utilitarian 

order than Captain Williamson intended. He had seen 

5' 



Charles Williamson 



the original in his travels on the Continent, and, associat- 
ing Seneca Lake with Lake Leman, had in view an 
imitation in a wilderness of the new world. In reference 
to this as well as other of his projections, his ardent and 
sanguine temperament led him to suppose that villages 
and village improvements could to a considerable extent 
precede a general cultivation of the soil. Experience 
has shown that they must follow by slow steps after it. 
Early in 1794 Williamson also began a settle- 
ment at Sodus, on the shore of Lake Ontario. 
He also had roads cut from Palmyra and Phelpstown 
to get access to the spot from those points. It was his 
first appearance in the Lake Ontario region, and his 
presence there, with his surveyors, roadmakers, builders, 
and all the retinue necessary to carry out his plans, 
created a new era in the district, and inspired new hopes 
in the scattered backwood settlers. It had looked, before 
he came, as if for long years no one would be bold enough 
to penetrate the dark, heavy forests that in a wide belt 
were stretched along the shores of the Lake. No hopes 
had been entertained of realising for years any better 
facilities for transportation to market than were afforded 
by Ganargua Creek, the outlet of Canandaigua Lake 
and Clyde River. But Williamson changed all this. 



Settlement at Sodus 



He preceded his enterprise by a written announcement 
of the plan of operations. According to the plan, he 
contemplated the survey of a '' town between Salmon 
Creek and Great Sodus Bay, and a spacious street with 
a large square in the centre, between the Falls on 
Salmon Creek and the anchorage in the Bay, and the 
building of mills at the Falls on Salmon Creek." He 
adds : — '' As the harbour of Great Sodus is acknowledged 
to be the finest on Lake Ontario, this town, in the 
convenience of the mills and extensive fisheries, will 
command advantages unknown to the country, inde- 
pendent of the navigation of the Great Lake and the 
St. Lawrence." The town was surveyed by Joseph 
Colt according to the plan. The in-lots contained a 
quarter of an acre and the out-lots ten acres. The 
whole was upon a scale of magnificence, ill-suited to 
that primitive period, and yet perhaps justified by the 
splendid prospects, and more than all, by the capacious 
and beautiful bay — the best natural harbour upon the 
whole chain of lakes — a view of which even now excites 
surprise that it has not long since realised all the 
sanguine expectations of Captain Williamson. 

The in-lots in the new town were ofifered for one 

hundred dollars, and the out-lots for four dollars per 

53 



Charles Williamson 



acre ; the farm-lands in all the neighbourhood were 
disposed of at one dollar fifty cents per acre. Mills 
were erected at the Falls on Salmon Creek, a pleasure 
boat was placed on the Bay, and several other improve- 
ments were made. On roads, surveys, buildings, etc., 
over $20,000 were expended in the first two years. 

The first difficulty encountered in the work of establish- 
ing the settlement was the fever and ague — that early 
incubus that brooded over all the pioneering enterprises. 
When the sick season came, agents, mechanics and labourers 
could work ortly on "well days," and Captain Williamson 
soon began to realise that there was something besides 
the romantic and the beautiful about the " Bay of 
Naples " he had found hid away in the forests of the 
Genesee country. 

Another and still more serious difficulty was en- 
countered in the action of the British authorities in 
Canada, who made the settlement at Sodus the occasion 
of a controversy which at first threatened the outbreak 
of another war. The representatives of the British 
Government in Canada had not entirely lost hope of 
renewing the Revolutionary struggle, and invading New 
York. They held their posts at Niagara and Oswego, 

together with many other forts which the treaty of peace 

54 



The British Authorities 



required them to surrender. They regarded with strong 
disfavour the presence and work of Williamson and his 
band of pioneers ; and when the new settlement at 
Sodus was established, they determined that a check 
must be put to the movement. Accordingly, by the 
order of Colonel Simcoe, the Canadian Governor, 
Lieutenant Sheaffe, commanding at Fort Oswego, was 
despatched to Sodus on i6th August, 1794, and, in the 
absence of Williamson, left a protest against the prose- 
cution of the new settlement, and appointed a meeting 
to take place ten days later. At the time the protest 
was lodged Williamson was busy with the superintend- 
ence of the forest clearing and the erection of new 
buildings, and his time and energy were fully employed 
by the constant demands made upon him by the increas- 
ing progress of the settlement work. But he resolved 
to keep the appointment, impervious to the fear of 
intimidation ; and a fine example of dauntless courage 
and unswerving determination he presented as, with a 
brace of loaded pistols on his table, he received Lieu 
tenant Sheaffe in the log cabin, when that officer arrived 
with great military display. The meeting between 
Captain Williamson and Lieutenant Sheaffe, however, was 

friendly enough. They had known each other before, 

55 



Charles Williamson 



and while in the same service had marched through some 
parts of England together. The heutenant handed to 
Captain WilHamson the protest. 

" I am commissioned by Governor Simcoe," said 
he, " to deliver this protest, and require an answer." 

"I am a citizen of the United States," replied 
Williamson, "and under their authority and protection 
I possess these lands. I know no right that His Britannic 
Majesty, or Governor Simcoe, has to interfere or 
molest me. The only allegiance I owe to any power 
on earth is to the United States ; and so far from 
being intimidated by threats from people I have no 
connection with, I shall proceed with my improvements ; 
and nothing but superior force shall make me abandon 
the place. Is the protest of Governor Simcoe intended 
to apply to Sodus exclusively ? " 

" By no means," replied Sheaffe. " It is intended 
to embrace all the Indian lands purchased since the 
peace of 1783." 

"And what," inquired Williamson, "are Governor Sim- 
coe's intentions, supposing that the protest is disregarded.''" 

" I am merely the official bearer of the papers," 

said Sheaffe ; " but I have a further message to deliver 

from Governor Simcoe, which is, that he reprobates 

56 



The British Authorities 



your conduct exceedingly for endeavouring to obtain 
flour from Upper Canada, and, should he permit it, it 
would be acknowledging the right of the United States 
to these Indian lands." 

The gauntlet having been thus thrown down, 
matters looked serious. Williamson immediately dis- 
patched messages to General Knox, the secretary for 
war, and to Governor Chirton at Washington informing 
them that the sovereignty of New York was denied. 

In these letters he detailed all that had transpired, 
suggested some measures for protection, and gave 
assurances that the mandate of Governor Simcoe would 
be disregarded. In the letter to General Knox he says: 
" It is pretty well ascertained that for some time past 
quantities of military stores and ammunition have been 
forwarded to Oswego. This makes me think it not 
improbable that Lieutenant Sheaffe will attempt a forcible 
possession of Sodus on his return. I shall, however, 
without relaxing, go on with my business there until 
driven off by a superior force. It is needless for me to 
trouble you with any comments on this unparalleled piece 
of insolence and gross insult to the Government of the 
United States." At the same time he sent a letter detail- 
ing the insolence of Simcoe to William Pultcney to be 

57 



Charles Williamson 



shown to William Pitt, the British Prime Minister. In 
this letter he said : " I shall make no further com- 
ment on this business than to observe that, anything 
short of actual hostilities, it completes the unequalled 
insolent conduct of Mr. Simcoe towards this Government. 
Mr. Simcoe's personal attack on myself and you I treat 
with the scorn it deserves, but I beg leave to give you 
a sketch of his political conduct. On his first arrival 
in this country, by deep-laid schemes he has prevented 
every possibility of an accommodation between this 
country and the hostile Indians ; and this summer by 
his intrigues he has drawn several tribes of friendly 
Indians from the territory of the United States to the 
British side of the lines, and left nothing undone to 
induce the Six Nations, our neighbours, to take up 
the hatchet the moment he gives the word. You must 
be acquainted with his marching a body of armed troops 
to, and erecting a fort at the Rapids of the Miami, seventy 
miles within the territory of the United States ; but 
this being an extensive wilderness, his action seemed 
of less importance. Not content with this, he has 
now interfered with our settlements in a manner so unlike 
the dignity of a great nation that it must astonish you. 
If it is the intention of the British ministry, by low and 



The British Authorities 



underhand schemes, to keep alive a harassing war against 
helpless women and children, or by murders on this 
frontier to add to the list of murders already committed 
through the influence of their servants here, and to 
treat this government with the most unwarrantable 
insolence and contempt, I allow Mr. Simcoe is the most 
industrious and faithful servant the British Government 
ever had. But if it is their intention to cultivate a 
friendly intercourse with this country, it never can take 
place while such is the conduct of their Governor here. 
For my own part, I think it would be doing the Govern- 
ment of Great Britain a most essential service, should 
their intentions towards this country be friendly, to 
show to their Ministry the conduct of Governor Simcoe ; 
and I write this letter that you may show it to Mr. 
Dundas or Mr. Pitt, if you think proper. Their know- 
ledge of me, I am convinced, will give it sufficient weight. 
If these transactions are in consequence of orders from 
Great Britain, and if their views are hostile, there is 
nothing further to be said." 

Meantime, Governor Chirton, stirred to the hottest 
resentment by the unwarrantable interference that had 
been displayed, issued orders to Colonel Ganesvoort to 

prepare immediately for the defence of the new settle- 

59 



Charles Williamson 



ments. The colonel commissioned Captain Williamson 
to build a suitable block-house in Bath, as well as at 
Sodus, for protection. Williamson promptly proceeded 
to execute the order, and called for proposals to prepare 
the timber and prosecute the work. His call was re- 
sponded to with enthusiasm. The whole district was 
aroused; and the young mechanic, George M'Clure, 
eager for the fray, dropped the implements of peace, 
girded on a rusty sword, recruited a company, and 
commenced drilling them at once. 

War seemed inevitable, and the Government of the 
United States took the matter in hand.^ But the letter 
of Williamson to Pulteney, which had been laid before 
Pitt, must have been productive of good. Diplomatic 
negotiations were opened ; the British relinquished their 
arrogant demands, afforded adequate apologies, and the 
threatened storm blew over. The old swords were 
turned into plough-shares ; the timber for the block- 
house was used for better purposes ; and the stockades 
for Pulteney Square made capital fence-posts. Thus 
through the invincible courage of Williamson, his prompt 
statesmanship, and the influence of his friendship with 
William Pitt, a danger which threatened the very 

^ See Letters in the Appendix. 
60 



Pacification of the Indians 



existence of the settlements he had striven so hard to 

establish was happily averted. 

The interference of the British-Canadian authorities, 

though prompted by the desire for the aggrandisement 

of their own empire, was made ostensibly in defence 

of the interests of the Indians whose once unmolested 

hunting-grounds had been invaded, and were being 

rapidly abolished by the intrusion of the settlers. In 

spite of the tact and courtesy of Williamson, it was but 

natural that the Indians should resent the sweeping 

changes of the white man in the place where they had 

once held undisputed sway. Danger to the work of 

settlement was always to be anticipated from this source, 

and every means was taken to avert it. In July, 1794, 

Williamson was at Whitestown in attendance before 

the Commissioners, who were endeavouring to conclude 

a treaty with the Indians ; but it was not until Wayne's 

great victory over the Western Indians in August that 

safety was secured by the absolute submission of the 

whole race. Later in the year Colonel Pickering 

held a treaty with the Six Nations at Canandaigua, 

settled all differences with them, and buried the hatchet 

for ever. William Savary, a Quaker minister from 

Philadelphia, selected by the Indians to look after their 

61 



Charles Williamson 



interests, attended the conference. In going and return- 
ing lie passed over the WilHamson road as far as Blood's 
Corner. He reports in his journal that there was not 
a settler between Atlanta and Bath, and that Corbett's 
tavern at Mud Creek was the only house between Bath 
and Painted Post ; and he relates that Captain Williamson 
entertained him right royally at his mansion for a night 
on his way home, but makes no mention of the growth 
or size of the town. 

Peace having been secured where war was threat- 
ened, and all apprehension from Indian raids having 
been allayed, the way was opened to prosecute the 
work of settlement without interruption. Strangers 
came pouring in from far and near, and Williamson, 
though anxious to welcome and entertain them all, was 
sometimes hard pressed in the effort to fulfil his own 
desire. M'Clure relates that the captain told him one 
day that he expected much company shortly, but had 
not room to entertain them. "He asked me how long 
it would take to erect and complete a house forty by 
sixteen feet, a storey and a half in height, all material 
delivered, no plastering, all ceiled. I replied, ' Three 
days.' He said, ' Do it' Working night and day, 

the work was completed to his satisfaction in forty- 

63 



Williamson's Hospitality 



eight hours. He paid me four hundred dollars for the 
job." 

This is but one example of how Williamson, with 
characteristic hospitality, strove to entertain all who 
made their way to his rising town. He lavished his 
hospitality without respect of persons ; and the prince 
and the peasant, the hunter and the lawyer, the rough 
backwoodsman and the metropolitan gentleman, were 
equally welcome to his bountiful board. 



63 



CHAPTER VI 

VISIT OF THE DUKE DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULT — EXTRACTS 
FROM HIS JOURNAL 




MONG those who visited the settlement 
and enjoyed the hospitality of Williamson 
was the Duke de la Rochefoucault, a dis- 
tinguished French exile, who, with several 
travelling companions, arrived at Bath in June, 1795, 
and was sumptuously entertained for several days. In 
the journal of the duke an interesting account is given 
of the history of the purchase and allotment of the 
Genesee Tract, and it is especially valuable as furnish- 
ing a graphic description by an eye - witness of the 
condition of the settlement, Williamson's management 
and methods of work, and the habits of his private life. 
The duke and his companions made their way to 
Bath from Painted Post by the undulating road cut 
straight throuo-h the midst of forests, which the captain's 

64 



Duke de la Rochefoucault 

pioneers had constructed. On their arrival they found 
that Captain Williamson had gone to Canandaigua tc 
preside as a Judge at the Sessions, but that he was 
expected to return in two days. It was a matter of 
some importance to them to meet him, and accordingly 
they resolved to make an excursion to the small lakes, 
and return to Bath in three days, when they would be 
sure to find the captain at home. 

During this excursion the duke learned much of 
the nature and history of the tract of country which 
Williamson had laboured to open up, and the informa- 
tion thus acquired is set forth at some length in the 
pages of his journal. 

Finding Williamson at Friendsmill, they returned 
with him to Bath, and inspected the new town, with 
the help of the captain's personal attendance. 

" At Bath," writes the duke, " we were led by a 
train of reflections to observe how much the success of 
a settlement depends on the activity, judicious manage- 
ment, incessant application, and steady prosecution of a 
well - concerted plan ; success, indeed, must necessarily 
crown not only this sort of an undertaking, but all others 
when thus planned and executed." 

In the management of the sales of land, he points 
65 E 



Charles Williamson 



out, everything centred round Williamson. He was the 
" sole creator, director, and mainspring of every active 
purchase and sale made and negotiated. Land which 
was first sold for one dollar per acre, in two years' 
time was sold for three ; and the produce of about 800,000 
acres disposed of in this way by Captain Williamson 
has not only refunded the purchase money and the whole 
amount of the expenses incurred, but also, by his own 
confession, yielded a net profit of ^50,000. 

" Captain Williamson," the duke continues, " con- 
stantly resides in the centre of his settlements, which 
circumstance gives him a very superior advantage over 
all the great landowners, private speculators, and trading 
companies who reside in towns. He frequently concludes 
a contract and removes long difficulty in the course of 
a few minutes' conversation, so that the purchaser, pleased 
with the soil, the trifling purchase money, and the good 
reception he has received from the captain, imparts his 
satisfaction to the whole neighbourhood, and generally 
brings along with his own family some new settlers. 

" Captain Williamson's land is free from all dispute 

or question concerning his right of occupancy ; his claims 

are strictly legal, and all his land properly ascertained 

and marked out. The purchasers can, therefore, with 

66 



Duke de la Rochefoucault 

entire security, extend their operations over every part 
of their settlement. This is an important additional 
advantage to the sale and purchase of land, which is 
too little attended to by those who are engaged in 
speculations of this nature. 

" His land is always sold with a proviso that a 
number of acres be equal to the number of families 
which shall come to settle within eighteen months ; 
they who buy small shares of from 500 to 1000 acres 
are bound only to promise one family ; and if he should 
sell again before the expiration of eighteen months, the 
new purchaser is rendered liable to the original contract, 
for the captain is sensible that it is in his interest to 
act uniformly in a mild, just, and condescending manner. 

" Such families as are extremely poor the captain 
supplies with a cow, an ox, or some house to live in ; 
but this generosity he exercises with great prudence and 
discretion. 

" Captain Williamson never establishes a settlement 
without having previously made such arrangements as 
shall secure a regular supply of provisions to the in- 
habitants. His own stores he never opens, unless it 
should happen that settlers, from want of prudence or 

propriety, are exposed to want. Were he to open them 
67 



Charles Williamson 



before, the industry of the inhabitants would be quickly 
relaxed, which, in all new settlements, it is highly neces- 
sary to foster and stimulate. 

" He encourages every new settlement by taking 
himself a share of it. When five or six new settlers 
have formed the project of building their houses to- 
gether, he always adds a superior one to them at his 
own expense. This expense, which at first seems to 
carry with it an air of generosity, is really founded on 
the soundest policy. The share on which Williamson 
builds generally acquires ten times its former value. A 
purchaser or tenant soon appears, and the different houses 
and mills which he has erected have, without exception, 
produced two or three times as much as they cost. 

" In addition to these prominent traits of his man- 
agement, he employs all the various means which the 
peculiarity of situation in other circumstances may offer. 
Independently of the medical stores, which he keeps in 
all the chief places of his settlements, he encourages, by 
his liberality, races and all other games and pastimes of 
young people. He is attempting also to establish horse- 
racing, with a view to improve the breed of horses, and 
keeps himself a set of beautiful stallions. 

" Captain Williamson has now nearly put the finish- 



Duke de la Rochefoucault 

ing stroke to the great undertaking. Next autumn he 
proposes to sail for England, and return the following 
spring with a choice assemblage of horses, cattle, and 
sheep of the best breeds he can obtain, and a collection 
of models of all implements of agriculture, the materials 
of which are so nicely calculated and so well made in 
that country. 

" Captain Williamson will not only procure to his 
extensive possessions singular advantages over those of 
other landowners, but also become the benefactor of 
America at large, whose agriculture he cannot fail to 
improve. 

" What I have related on this head is not merely 
the result of what we heard from the captain himself 
during our stay at Bath, but it tallies correctly with the 
information we afterwards collected at Genesee. 

" Captain Williamson is universally respected and 
beloved. How glorious is his career ! How enviable 
his destination ! How much more important than that 
of a dissipated courtier or a mercenary stock-jobber ! " 

In the course of his inspection the duke found a 
school in process of building at Bath. It was William- 
son's intention to endow the school with some hundred 

acres of land, and to take upon himself the maintenance 

69 



Charles Williamson 



of the schoolmaster until the money paid for the instruc- 
tion of the children should be sufficient for his support. 
A session-house and prison were also being put up, and 
a new inn was being built which, in addition to other 
conveniences, should contain a ball-room. Near Bath, 
on the other side of the Conhocton, were erected a 
corn -mill and two saw -mills, worked by the great 
quantity of water at hand, and capable of considerable 
enlargement ; while a bridge was being constructed across 
the river for the purpose of opening a free and un- 
interrupted communication with the country on the other 
side. 

After speaking of the farms in the neighbourhood 
of Bath, and the establishment of other settlements, and 
relating briefly the threatening conflict with Governor 
Simcoe, which ended so fortunately, the Duke passes 
from the public to the private life of Williamson. 

"I have spoken," he says, "of Captain Williamson 

merely in his public character, as the founder of the 

most extensive settlement which methinks has been 

formed in America. I shall now follow him into his 

private life, where his hospitality and other social 

qualities render him equally conspicuous and amiable. 

It is but doing him justice to say that in him are 

70 



Duke de la Rochefoucault 



united all the civility and good nature and cheerfulness 
which a liberal education, united to a proper knowledge 
of the world, can impart. We spent four days at his 
home, from an early hour in the morning until late at 
night, without ever feeling ourselves otherwise than at 
home. Perhaps it is the fairest eulogium we can pass 
on his free and easy certainty to say that all the time 
of our stay he seemed as much at his ease as if we 
had not been present. He transacted all his business 
in our presence, and was actively employed all the day 
long. We were present at his receiving persons of 
different ranks and descriptions, with whom the apart- 
ment he allots to business is generally crowded. He 
receives them all with the same civility, attention, cheer- 
fulness, and good nature. They come to him prepossessed 
with a certain confidence in him, and they are never 
dissatisfied. He is at all times ready to converse with 
any who have business to transact with him. He will 
break off his conversation with his friends or get up 
from his dinner for the sake of dispatching those who 
wish to speak to him. From this constant readiness to 
receive all who have business with him, should any con- 
clude that he is influenced by a thirst for gain, this 

surmise would be contradicted by the unanimous testi- 

71 



Charles Williamson 



mony of all who have had dealings with him ; but were 
it ever so undeniable that money is his leading and 
sole object, it is highly desirable that all who are swayed 
by the same passion would gratify it in the same just, 
honourable, and useful manner. 

"Though we slept at the inn, we spent the whole 
day from morning to night with Williamson, where we 
enjoyed tranquillity more than in the noisy inn, which 
is always crowded with travellers. The habitation of 
the captain consists of several small houses formed of 
trunks of trees and joiner's work, which at present makes 
a very irregular whole, but which he intends soon to 
improve. His way of living is simple, neat, and good. 
Every day he has a joint of fresh meat, vegetables, and 
wine. We met with no circumstances of pomp or luxury, 
but found ease, good manners, and plenty in the use- 
ful yet comfortable mansion in which the captain 
lives. 

" Our first intention was to have stayed at Captain 
Williamson's only one day ; but, in compliance with his 
wish, we added another, and necessity compelled us to 
stay a third. When on the point of setting out I per- 
ceived that my horse was lame, and though we were 

assured that he might make the journey without the 

72 



Duke de la Rochefoucault 

least inconvenience, yet Captain Williamson obligingly 
insisted on our staying a day longer. 

" Mrs. Williamson, whom we had not seen for the 
first two days, made her appearance on the third at 
dinner. To judge from her deportment, timidity had 
till then deprived us of her company. She is a native 
of Boston, and became acquainted there with the captain, 
who in the contest with Great Britain had resided at 
Boston as a prisoner of war. She is yet but a young 
woman, of fair complexion, civil, though of few words, 
and the mother of two lovely children, one of whom, a 
girl three years old, is the finest and handsomest I ever 
saw." 

After the polished manner of his race, the duke did 
not fail to make his opinion of their children known to 
the parents, and thus further ingratiated himself into 
their favour. So, on a footing of perfect friendship, and 
with promises on both sides of correspondence and mutual 
help, the duke and his companions brought their inter- 
esting and prolonged visit to Williamson to a reluctant 
end. 



73 



CHAPTER VII 

THE STEUBEN COUNTY DIVISION OF TOWNS: BATH THE 

CAPITAL THE FIRST NEWSPAPER — RELIGION THE 

FIRST SCHOOL — THE BATH RACES PROGRESS OF 

SPECULATION COMPLETION OF TOWN ORGANISATION 

COURTHOUSE, JAIL, AND THEATRE SETTLEMENT OF 

PERTHSHIRE EMIGRANTS AT BIG SPRINGS OR CALEDONIA 
— METHOD OF ALLOTMENT 




N March, 1796, through the influence of 
Colonel Benjamin Walker, a close and 
intimate friend of Williamson, the south 
part of the County of Ontario was dis- 
joined and created into a separate county under the 
name of Steuben. The name was derived from Baron 
Friedrich von Steuben, a German officer who had dis- 
tinguished himself under Fredrick the Great, and who 
had later offered his services to the Americans in the 
War of Independence. In this war, while he maintained 

his distinguished conduct in several well-fought battles, 

74 



The Steuben County 



his principal service lay in the thorough drill and discipline 
which he introduced into the American army. He 
sacrificed a great part of his own property for the 
maintenance of the soldiers and officers under him, and 
when after the war he was rewarded with a pension 
of 2,500 dollars, and several grants of lands, he gave 
most of these away to poor soldiers. He died on 28th 
November, 1794 ; and Colonel Walker, who had been 
his aide-de-camp, and who had been left as his residuary 
legatee, recognised the desirability of perpetuating his 
substantial service by some perpetual memorial. Accord- 
ingly, that part of the County of Ontario in which the 
Genesee Tract was situated was erected into the County 
of Steuben, and was provided for in the Act of Erection 
as follows : — 

"That it shall and may be lawful to and for the 
Justices of the Court of General Sessions for the said 
County of Steuben, or a majority of them, at any 
General Sessions of the Peace, to divide the county 
into as many towns as they shall deem necessary, and 
that the said Justices, at any such General Sessions, 
shall fi.x and direct the place or places, in each of said 
towns so made at which the first town meeting for 
electing town officers shall be held, and all future meet- 

75 



Charles Williamson 



ings in any such town shall be held at such place as a 
majority of the inhabitants thereof sh:ill by open vote 
at any town meeting appoint." 

The county officers were appointed by the Gover- 
nor, viz., Charles Williamson, first judge ; William 
Kersey, Abraham Bradley, and Eleazer Lindsley, 
judges ; Stephen Ross, surrogate ; George D. Cooper, 
county clerk ; William Dunn, sheriff All of them 
were duly qualified except Charles Williamson. 

On June 21, 1796, in pursuance of the Act, the 
Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the 
Peace met in the land office at Bath. William Kersey 
presided, assisted by Judges Bradley and Lindsley, 
and some of the Justices of the Peace in Commission, 
and an order was made and entered that the said 
Justices report upon the erection and division of towns 
at the next October term of the Court. At that term 
the minutes show that all the Justices of the Peace of 
the county were present, and it is presumed that they 
then and there performed their duty, but no report can 
be found. But the Albany Gazette contains the follow- 
ing statement : — " Agreeably to a provision in the law 
erecting a part of Ontario into a new county by the 

name of Steuben, the Court of Sessions have divided 

76 



Division of Towns 

that county into the six following towns : — viz., Bath, 
Painted Post, Frederichstown (afterwards Wayne), Middle- 
town (afterwards Addison), Canisteo and Dansville." 

Bath, which was made the capital town of Steuben 
County, was bounded on the north by the county line, 
east by Lake Keuka and Frederichstown, south by 
Painted Post and Middletown, and west by Dansville, 
as subsequent records, and the exercise of municipal 
jurisdiction, show. 

After the erection of the county, and the division 
of its towns, Williamson was elected its representative 
member to the Legislative Assembly of New York, and 
held the appointment for four successive terms. But 
his energies were still chiefly directed to the develop- 
ment of the town of Bath. He determined to make it 
worthy of its title of the capital town of the county. 
To this end he resolved, in the first place, to establish 
a newspaper. William Kersey, the newly-appointed 
judge, an attach^ of the land office, was dispatched, in 
the spring of 1796, to Pennsylvania to procure the 
necessary material. From York, Pa., on April i8th, 
Kersey wrote the captain : " The printing press is not 
yet completed, but the workmen tell me they will have 

it done in a few days." James Edie, of Northumber- 

n 



Charles Williamson 



land, a practical printer, was engaged to bring on the 

press and material. This he did early in the summer, 

and formed for the purpose of publication a partnership 

with Kersey. They set up their press in a log building 

on the south-west corner of St. Patrick Square, where 

General Averell's residence now stands. There, on 

October 19, 1796, was issued the first number of the 

" Bath Gazette and Genesee Advertiser, published by 

William Kersey and James Edie, Bath, Steuben, N.Y." 

at the price of two dollars per annum. This was the 

first newspaper printed in the State west of Oneida 

County. It was printed as a small folio sheet, fifteen 

inches by nine, with three broad columns, and was 

fairly done. According to Turner, it was still published 

in 1799. It was probably discontinued in 1800, on 

the retirement of Captain Williamson from the agency, 

and what became of the press is not known. 

That great influence in civilisation — the Printing 

Press — was thus established ; and one might have 

thought that at least side by side with it there should 

have sprung up the institution of religion which in the 

history of the Old World had done so much for the 

life and progress of mankind. But this was not so. 

At the outset of the settlement no zeal for religion 

78 



Religion 



seems to have mingled with the pioneering enthusiasm 
of the settlers ; or, at least, the sentiment of religion 
did not find expression in church buildings or ecclesiasti- 
cal forms. "The village fathers," it has been pithily 
said, " had been forward to provide a hippodrome and 
an opera house for the people, but to make ready a 
place for the worship of God did not seem to occur to 
them as a part of their duty. This task, as usual, 
devolved upon the mothers of the village." But it is 
easy at this late date, from our advanced Church pro- 
gress and missionary development, to look back to 
those early settlers, and sharply criticise their apparent 
lack. Let us first be sure, however, that we are criticis- 
ing them with a legitimate standard. More than a 
hundred years ago the missionary agencies of the 
Church, with which Christendom is so familiar to-day, 
did not exist. There was no organised society, whose 
treasury could be drawn upon for funds to carry the 
Gospel into the wilderness which Williamson was so 
steadily opening up. The Church, through lack of 
resources, was compelled to leave the new district 
severely alone. The pioneers themselves were at first 
too hard pressed to be able to provide the necessary 

ordinances, and the stern task of subduing a pathless 

79 



Charles Williamson 



forest demanded all their time and energy, and left 
them unable of themselves to organise and develop the 
religious life of the community. In modern times, and 
in places where civilisation, as the result of a process of 
many centuries, seems to have reached its heights, it 
requires a special class of men banded together in a 
distinct profession to sustain the ordinances and work of 
religion ; and there are places in our own land in these 
days where, without help which is independent of the 
population, the Church and clergy would have no exist- 
ence. Is it any wonder, therefore, that those early 
settlers, amid circumstances of primitive civilisation which 
taxed them to the utmost, found it impossible to add 
religion in the form of church life to their other manifold 
labours ? Williamson's task was not that of a missionary. 
His work was to open up highways through the tractless 
country and establish settlements, by which the missionary, 
with others, might follow, and where he might establish 
his calling. What were considered the best means to 
this end were employed, and special work was left to 
those who were specially qualified to perform it. 

It would be unfair, however, to conclude from the 
absence of formal church life that those men who first 
cleared the way for the splendid progress that followed 







Village OF Bath in 1804. 



-IjOR house, formerly printing office of tlie 

Bath (tazMe. 
-Kull'6 Tavern. 
-Log llOUSG. 
-Helm's residence. 
-Frame house, afterward? occupied b.v i!ev. 

.1. Niles. 
"■Log house. 

-H. A. 'I'ownsend's house. 
-McClure's house and .store. 
-Grocery. 
-Court Ho\ise. 
-Turner's house. 



12-rJonalhan T. Haight, lawyer. 

l:J^ Log house. ' 

14— PuTteney Land Agent's residence. 

!.'■;— Land office. 

Iti— i^iberty tree {blown down in 18<!5), 

!T-Bath .Jail. 

!8— School house. 

lii— O. Cameron's house. 

2()T-Metca!f's Tavern. 

2!— Rlaclcsmitli sliop. 

2-,'-r:TheHlre. 

23— He!m's grist and saw mills. 



[To face p. 8 1. 



The First School 



were entirely destitute of religion. They had all come 
from countries where religion was a power ; and if the 
form was absent, the spirit of religion remained to 
influence their life. There is nothing to show that the 
moral condition of the community was in any way worse, 
during the ten years that elapsed before the first religious 
meeting was established, than that of any other community 
where religion, both in form and in spirit, is largely in 
evidence. 

For the end that Captain Williamson had in view 
a school for the education of the youth of the new town 
was an absolute necessity. In the journal of the Duke 
de la Rochefoucault reference has already been found 
to the building of a school, and to Williamson's intention 
to maintain the schoolmaster until a sufficient maintenance 
should be otherwise provided. This school, a frame 
building on the north-west corner of Pulteney Square, 
was completed in 1796. In the picture of the village 
of Bath in 1804, made from the personal recollections 
of Colonel W^. H. Bull, the site on which this school 
was located can be noted. One Robert Hunter was the 
first schoolmaster whom Williamson appointed, and who 
appears to have arrived early in the history of the settle- 
ment, and to have begun work before the schoolhouse 

81 r 



Charles Williamson 



was provided. This fact is authenticated by Charles 
WilHamson's cash-book, which is now in the possession 
of the Hon. A. J. M'Call, of Bath. In this cash-book 
are found the following entries : — 

" 1793. June 1;^. To cash advanced Mr. Hunter as 
schoolmaster at Bath, $20. 

"1794, February 7. Robert Hunter, on acct. of 
salary, $1.61. 

"1794, April 23. I doz. spelling-books and J ream 
cartridge paper, i shilling, i penny." 

It was at this school that Colonel Bull received his 
preliminary education in 1805, when one Dixon was the 
schoolmaster. The schoolhouse was removed when the 
old stone jail was built in 1808. 

In the same year (1796) which saw the institution 
of the first newspaper and the erection of the school- 
house, Williamson developed the races which he had 
instituted in the previous year to commemorate the 
success which had attended the sales of land, and the 
consequent increase in emigration. A racecourse of 
regulation standard had been carefully cleared and graded 
east of May Street. It was a half-mile track. He now 
directed his men to put the racecourse in thorough 

order, and caused an attractive advertisement to be 

82 



The Bath Races 



published in the New York and Pennsylvania newspapers, 
announcing that a fair and races would be held at Bath 
on the 20th September. When they took place, it is 
said that not less than two thousand persons were 
gathered in the new capital to witness them. 

Judge G. H. M 'Master, in his history, has given 
this graphic account of the event ; " On the day and 
at the place appointed for the race in the proclamation, 
sportsmen from New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore 
were in attendance. The high blades of Virginia and 
Maryland, the fast boys of Jersey, the wise jockeys of 
Long Island, men of Ontario, Pennsylvania, and Canada, 
settlers, choppers, gamesters, and hunters, to the number 
of fifteen hundred or two thousand, met on the pine 
plains to see the horses run — a number as great, con- 
sidering the condition of the region where they met, as 
now assembles at State fairs and mass meetings. The 
races passed off brilliantly. Captain Williamson, himself 
a sportsman of spirit and discretion, entered a Southern 
mare, Virginia Nell. High Sheriff Dunn entered Silk 
Stocking, a New Jersey horse — quadrupeds of renown 
even at the present day. Money was plenty and the 
betting lively. The ladies of the two dignitaries who 

owned the rival animals bet each three hundred dollars 

83 



Charles Williamson 



and a pipe of wine on the horses of their lords, or, as 
otherwise related, poured seven hundred dollars into 
the apron of a third lady, who was stakeholder. Silk 
Stocking was victorious." 

It is a characteristic of the typical Briton that 
wherever his lot is cast he proceeds, if possible, to hold 
races for the perpetuation of the national pastime. Troops 
on a campaign of war have been known, in spite of 
adverse circumstances and in face of danger, to indulge 
in the excitement of a well-run race, and camels have 
been pressed into the service when horses were scarce. 
The national love of horse-racing in a multitude so largely 
composed of men of the Old Country may well account 
for the success which attended the races thus instituted 
and held by Williamson. It might be questioned, how- 
ever, if, in the face of the necessity of so much constant 
and arduous labour, which made inevitable the neglect 
of the organisation of better things, it was fitting that 
time and money should thus be expended. But William- 
son, keen sportsman and lover of horses though he was, 
was not the man to waste time, money, or energy in the 
indulgence of a pleasure which ended with itself. Of 
an intensely practical nature and far - seeing policy, he 

recognised that events of this kind, which gathered 

84 



Progress of Speculation 



together a great multitude from far and near, would 
attract a larger attention to his lands and town. He 
was anxious to make rapid and profitable sales of the 
land in his charge ; and he knew that it was necessary 
to create some excitement which would bring strangers 
to look at them. And so, in pursuance of the task 
which he had undertaken when he became the agent of 
the "Association," he set up these races as an attraction 
that, when men saw the advantages on the spot, they 
might be induced to emigrate to the new district. 

With every effort thus put forward to secure settlers, 
the town of Bath steadily grew. Weld, an English 
traveller, who visited the town in the later part of 
1796, wrote : " Bath is a post and principal town in the 
western part of the State 'of New York. Though laid 
out only three years ago, yet it contains about thirty 
houses, and is increasing very fast. Among the houses 
are several stores and shops well furnished with goods, 
and a tavern that would not be thought meanly of in 
any part of America. The town of Bath stands on a 
plain, surrounded on three sides by hills of moderate 
height. The plain is almost wholly divested of trees, 
but the hills are still uncleared, and have a very pleasing 
appearance from the town. At the foot of the hills 



Charles Williamson 



runs a stream of pure water over a bed of gravel, which 
is called Conhocton Creek. There is a very consider- 
able fall in the Creek just above the town, which affords 
the finest seats for mills possible, and extensive saw and 
flour mills have already been erected upon it." 

The efforts which Williamson put forth, and the 
attractions and advantages which he held out, soon raised 
speculation in the new country to a fever - heat. The 
traveller just quoted gives the following letter in 
illustration : 

" To the Printers of the ' Wilkes- Barre Gazette.' 

" Gentlemen, — It is painful to reflect that specula- 
tion has raged to such a degree of late that honest 
industry, and all the humble virtues that walk in her 
train, are discouraged and rendered unfashionable. It is 
to be lamented, too, that dissipation is sooner introduced 
in new settlements than industry and labour. 

" I have been led to these reflections by conversing 

with my son, who has just returned from the Lakes of 

Genesee, though he has neither been to the one nor 

the other ; in short, he has been to Bath — the celebrated 

Bath — and has returned both a speculator and a gentle- 

86 



Progress of Speculation 



man, having spent his money, swapped away my horse, 

caught the fever and ague, and, what is infinitely worse, 

that horrid disorder which some call the terraphobia. 

We can hear nothing from the poor creature (in his 

ravings) but of the captain, Billy (meaning Williamson 

and William Dunn), of ranges, townships, numbers, 

thousands, hundreds, acres, Bath, fairs, races, heats, bets, 

purses. Silk Stockings, fortunes, fevers, agues, etc. My 

son has a part of a township for sale, and it is diverting 

enough to hear him narrate its pedigree, qualities, and 

situation. In fine, it lies near Bath, and the captain 

himself once owned and for a long time reserved it. It 

cost my son but five dollars an acre ; he was offered 

six and a-half a minute after purchase, but he is positively 

determined to have eight, besides some precious preserves. 

One thing is very much in my son's favour — he has six 

years' credit. Another thing is still more so — he is not 

worth a sou, nor ever will be at this rate. 

" Previous to his late excursion he had worked 

well, and was contented at home on my farm, but now 

work is out of the question with him. There is no 

managing my boy at home ; these golden dreams still 

beckon him to Bath, where, he says, no one need work 

or starve ; where, though a man may have the ague 

87 



Charles Williamson 



nine months in the year, he may console himself in 
spending the other three fashionably at the races. 

"A Farmer. 
"Hanover, October 5, 1796." 

The farmer evidently writes under strong feeling, 
and from a conservative standpoint. Speculation was 
to him a deadly sin. But his amusing letter is interesting 
as indicating the progress of speculation in the Genesee 
Tract, whereby Williamson's trust was being so admirably 
fulfilled. 

In the early part of the year 1797 the town organi- 
sation was completed, and preparations were made for 
the annual town meeting. The meeting was held at 
Metcalfs hostelry on 4th April for the purpose of 
electing town officers. Charles Cameron was elected 
supervisor, and James Edie town-clerk ; and in addition 
there were appointed commissioners of highways, con- 
stables, overseers of the poor, overseers of the highways, 
fence inspectors, assessors, pound - masters, and com- 
missioners of schools. Charles Williamson was elected 
a commissioner of schools. 

The supervisor elected at that meeting having re- 
signed, a special town meeting was held on 19th June 



Courthouse and Jail 



of the same year, and George M'Clure was elected to 
fill the vacancy. The number of road districts was seven, 
and two hundred and thirty -five persons were assessed 
for highway purposes. 

The wolf and the panther were still in the land, and 
the night-time was made hideous by their frightful howls. 
It was found necessary to guard carefully against these 
dangerous neisfhbours, and efforts were also made to 
exterminate them. A number of ordinances was passed 
with regard to fences, estrays, etc., and, in addition to 
what was given by the State, a bounty of twenty shillings 
was given for every wolf or panther killed within the 
town. The process of extermination, however, was 
naturally long ; and as late as 1828 there are records 
showing that ten dollars were given as the bounty for 
the scalp of a full-grown wolf 

The year 1797 also witnessed the completed erection 
of the courthouse and jail. The courthouse was a modern 
structure, a storey and a half high, with a portico, flanked 
by wings, and located on the east side of Pulteney Square. 
It was a neat and commodious structure, well fitted for 
the purposes for which it was intended. The jail was 
constructed of squared timber, and was erected in Steuben 
Street, not far from the schoolhouse. 



Charles Williamson 



A theatre also was b'ciilt as an attraction to the new 
town. It stood at the junction of Steuben and Morris 
Streets, and was made ready for use at the end of the year. 

The population of the town increased and its appear- 
ance improved. A splendid regiment of militia was 
organised in the county, and in 1797 Williamson was 
commissioned by the Governor of the State of New York 
as a " lieutenant-colonel commanding a regiment of militia 
in the county of Steuben." 

In 1798 a party of emigrants from Perthshire, Scotland, 
emigrated to America. They landed at New York, 
travelled westward as far as Johnstown, Montgomery 
County, and halted there to determine on some permanent 
location. Captain Williamson, hearing of the arrival of 
his countrymen, made a journey to see them. He found 
them poor in purse, with nothing to pay for lands, and 
with but little even for their present subsistence. But 
they came from the 

" Land of the forest and the rock, 
Of dark blue lake and mighty river, 
Of mountains reared aloft to mock 
The storm's career, the lightning's shock," 

They were rich in courage, in a spirit of perseverance, 

90 



Perthshire Emigrants 



in habits of industry, and in all the elements that life 
in the wilderness and success required. Captain William- 
son proved himself to them not only a patron but a 
benefactor. He offered them a favourable location in 
the neighbourhood of the " Big Springs," gave them 
land at three dollars per acre, payable in wheat at six 
shillings a bushel, and furnished them with provisions 
until they should be able to help themselves. Four of 
their number were sent out to view the lands. They 
were more than pleased with the allotment Williamson 
had made, and on their return met him on his way from 
Geneva to Canandaigua. He drew up a writing on 
the road, and the bargain was closed. In March, 1799. 
the Scottish adventurers journeyed from Johnstown to 
the " Big Springs." This had been the name of the 
locality as far back as the time of the first English 
occupation of Niagara ; but in honour of the new settlers 
Williamson gave it the new name of Caledonia. 

The Springs being on the great trail from Tioga Point 
to Fort Niagara had long been a favourite camping 
ground ; and, previous to the advent of the Scotsmen, 
Fuller and Peterson had become squatters there, built 
log-houses, and entertained travellers. This furnished 
the Scottish setders a temporary shelter. John Smith, 



Charles Williamson 



one of Captain Williamson's surveyors, soon arrived 
and surveyed their lands, so planning the surveys that 
each allotment would have a front upon the streams. 
Log-houses were soon erected in the primitive manner, 
small patches of summer crops planted, and the new 
settlers were soon under way, though struggling with 
stinted means against all the hardships and privations 
of backwoods' life. On their arrival Captain Williamson 
had promptly given orders to Alexander Macdonald, 
his agent and clerk at Williamsburg, to supply some 
provisions. Wheat was procured at Dansville and ground 
at Wadsworth's Mill at Conesus, and pork was obtained 
at the store at Williamsburg. Captain Williamson also 
furnished them with some cows, and, in addition to other 
encouragements, donated one hundred and fifty acres 
for a "glebe," and fifty acres for school purposes. He 
erected at the Springs a grist and sawmill, which was 
completed in about three years. 

The general method which Captain Williamson adopted 

in his dealings with settlers consisted in granting land 

in small portions and on long credit to individuals who 

would immediately improve it ; and in large portions 

and on shorter credit to others who purchased on specula- 

92 



Method of Allotment 



tion. The lands in both cases were mortgaged for 
the purchase money. Thus, were the money not paid 
at the appointed time, it was impossible for him to 
be a loser, as the lands in such a case returned to him ; 
and if they happened to be at all improved, as they 
frequently were, he became a considerable gainer even 
by having them returned on his hands. Moreover, if 
a poor man, willing to settle on his land, had not sufficient 
money to build a house and to go on with the necessary 
improvements, Williamson at once supplied him with 
what money he wanted for that purpose, or sent his 
own workmen to build a house, at the same time taking 
the man's note, at three, four, or five years, for the cost 
of the house and appurtenances, with interest. If the man 
proved unable to pay at the appointed time, the house, 
mortgaged like the lands, reverted to the original pro- 
prietor, and the money arising from its sale, together with 
the sale of the farm adjoining was, on account of im- 
provements, generally found to be in excess of the 
amount promised in payment of the same. It was seldom, 
however, that a man, if at all industrious, failed in the 
payment of his liabilities at the appointed time. The 
granting of land on such easy terms could not and did not 

fail to attract to the country a large number of speculators. 

93 



CHAPTER VIII 

Williamson's pamphlet on the genesee country — 
navigation of the rivers — rafts and ark-building 
commercial prospects the mansion of spring- 
FIELD 




N the opening up of the tract of country 
with which he had been entrusted, it was 
apparent to WilHamson from the first that 
much depended on the concentration of 
the townships. The advantages of concentration had 
been already seen in the case of some French settle- 
ments on the St. Lawrence, in Canada, where farms 
were laid out with narrow river fronts, and the houses 
built within a short distance of each other. Following 
this example, Colonel Williamson, in his letters, urged 
the advantages to be secured, in the settlement of all 
new countries, by having the farms so located that the 

dwellings would not be far separated. Unfortunately, 

94 



Williamson's Pamphlet 



however, in many instances this method was not followed ; 
in some it was found impracticable under the existino- 
conditions ; and accordingly many settlers commenced 
their clearings and erected their log- houses miles away 
from their nearest neighbours. In spite of this disadvan- 
tage, however, the work of establishing settlements went 
steadily forward. 

Williamson, as has been already seen, spared no 
effort to induce emigration to the country. His races 
and brilliant assemblies were all means to this one end ; 
and in 1798 he enlisted the printing press into his service, 
and in an interestingly written pamphlet entitled " A 
Description of the Genesee Country : its Rapidly Pro- 
gressive Population and Improvements," illustrated with 
valuable maps, he gave an enthusiastic account of the 
many attractions offered by the new settlements. In the 
course of this pamphlet of thirty-seven pages, written as 
a series of letters, he says : 

" The rapid progress of this new country in every 
comfort and convenience has not only caused the emi- 
gration of vast numbers of substantial farmers, but also 
men of liberal education, who find here a society not 
inferior to that in the oldest country settlements in 

America. The schools are far from being indifferent, 

95 



Charles Williamson 



and even the foundations for public libraries are already- 
laid. The gendeman fond of a rural life or the amuse- 
ments of the field may here gratify himself ; he may 
find a situation for a country seat that will please the 
most romantic fancy ; the excellence of the climate and 
soil will afford him every certainty for a great return for 
his trouble and expense as a farmer, and with little care 
his garden may equal any gentleman's in England. 
Indeed, with the advantages of the soil and climate, the 
great variety of situations can only be equalled in the 
finest parts of England. 

" You will find that the climate of the Genesee 
country not only forms a very interesting part of its 
advantages, but also of its natural history ; those parching 
heats that, on the south side of the Allegany mountains, 
seem to dry up every particle of nourishment from the 
plants, are never known in this country ; in almost every 
instance a hot day is succeeded by a plentiful shower, 
which preserves throughout the summer a constant 
verdure, and affords to us the finest pastures and meadows 
on the continent ; the nights are proportionally cool, and 
a traveller from the sea-coast is surprised to find in the 
dog-days a couple of blankets a comfortable covering. 

The frosts have never been so severe as to stop the 

96 



Williamson's Pamphlet 



operation of the mills, provided very trifling precaution 
is used. So remarkable was this circumstance in 1 797, 
that a number of sleds came from Pennsylvania to the 
Bath mills, a distance of seventy miles. All this is owing 
to the relative situation of the Genesee country. It is 
bounded on the north and west by great bodies of water 
which do not freeze, and in this direction there is not 
one mountain. The northerly and westerly winds which 
scourge the coast of America by blowing over the 
Allegany mountains, covered with snow late in the spring 
and early in the fall, are tempered by passing over these 
waters ; and these mountains to the south of us do, at 
the same time, prevent the destructive effects of the 
southerly breeze in winter, which, by suddenly thawing 
the frozen wheat fields, would destroy thousands of bushels. 
While the Lakes and Allegany mountains are in existence, 
so long will the inhabitants of the Genesee country be 
blessed with their pleasant, temperate climate. 

" The town of Bath has this season increased con- 
siderably, and much improvement has been made on the 
different roads leading to it. The opening of a market 
to Baltimore for our lumber and fat cattle has also 
raised a spirit amongst the inhabitants to improve the 

navigation of the Conhocton. A handsome courthouse 
97 G 



Charles Williamson 



and a very secure and convenient gaol are added to the 
number of our buildings ; the printer of the Batli Gazette 
dispenses weekly not less than five hundred papers ; and 
the inhabitants of the town have recently encouraged a 
clergyman to settle amongst them." 

These extracts give us a clear idea of the condition 
of the town and country at that date ; and, in addition 
to the advantages mentioned by Williamson in his 
pamphlet, another was added in the following year. 
Until then letters were carried to Northumberland — the 
nearest place on the south for their deposit — by the 
primitive method already described. Post - riders rode 
to and from that place, making the trip once a fortnight. 
But in 1799 Williamson improved on this by establish- 
incr the first mail-coaches in America, which ran between 
New York and Geneva, Ontario County, and a more 
satisfactory mail system was thus begun. 

In Williamson's pamphlet on the Genesee country 
reference is made to the opening of a market to Balti- 
more by means of the navigation of the Conhocton 
River. The navigation of the river for this purpose 
was for some time an absorbing question. The roads, 
as might be expected in that early period, were difficult 
for the conveyance of the heavy produce which the 



Navigation of the River 



newly-opened country yielded, and no other channel of 

transportation than that of the natural waterways was 

regarded with favour. Accordingly, great efforts were 

made to remove obstructions from the smaller affluents 

of the great rivers, so that navigation would be open 

from the interior to the sea. It was found that in the 

spring and fall the Conhocton River from Bath might, 

with little labour, be made fairly navigable for rafts, 

boats, and other craft ; and it was resolved to transport 

by this means all the products of the north-western part 

of the country (chiefly consisting of lumber and grain) 

to the great marts of Philadelphia and Baltimore. In 

the spring of 1 798 two rafts of boards were started from 

Mud Creek, and in a very brief time and at a very 

small cost were landed safely in Baltimore. This settled 

the question of navigation for that species of craft ; and, 

as the navigation was gradually improved, the inhabitants 

found an open and easy water highway for the carriage 

of their goods to the most profitable markets. 

In the year 1800 an advance was made on the species 

of raft that was first used. In March of that year an 

ark eighty feet long by twenty wide was built at White's 

sawmill, and when completed was loaded with wheat and 

lumber, and launched on the river for Baltimore, where 

99 



Charles Williamson 



it duly arrived in safety with its freight. Two others 
with a similar cargo followed a month later from Bartles' 
Mills, on Mud Creek, and met with similar success. 
They were the first ventures of the kind, and created 
quite a sensation in the country. The arks were the 
invention of a Mr. Kryder, who, in 1792, built one at 
Standing Stone, on the Juniata, loaded it with wheat 
and whisky, and ran it down the Susquehanna to Balti- 
more. The important part which the ark played in the 
commerce of the Genesee country in the early years of 
its history makes a description of the construction of the 
craft of some interest. "A frame was made of three sticks 
of square timber, eight by twelve inches ; the two outside 
timbers, fifty-five feet long, were placed eight feet from 
the centre stick, which was seventy-five feet long. These 
were securely framed together by means of shorter ties, 
or girths, mortised into them. At the bow and stern a 
similar timber extended from the ends of the outside 
pieces, uniting at the end of the centre piece, so as to 
make the extremities sharp enough to aid in giving 
direction to its movements, and to meet with less resist- 
ance. This frame was then completely planked, and 
caulked as tightly as possible. It was then turned over, 

the planked side being under, and the whole shoved into 
100 



Ark-Building 

the water. Studs or studding four or five feet long and 
five feet apart were mortised into the outside timber, and 
planked up on the outside. The inside was ceiled, so 
as to make a tight rectangular box or hold. In the solid 
posts, at the terminal points, was firmly embedded a stout 
wooden pin to hold the oars, which directed the course 
of the craft, but did not propel it. The oars were made 
from small, straight white pines, light, dry, and tapering, 
some thirty feet in length and eight inches in diameter 
at the butt, in which was cut a gain for about five feet 
to receive the blade. This was made from a plank 
about fifteen feet long and eighteen or twenty inches in 
width, sawed for the purpose, tapering, being about two 
and a half inches thick at one end, an inch at the other, 
rounded at the thinner end, and fastened securely in its 
place in the oar - stems with wooden pins. At a point 
where the oar balanced a hole was bored and a slot 
made to give play vertically to the oar when it was 
placed on the oar -pin, and so balanced that the blade 
would just dip lightly in the water. The small end of 
the oar was whittled down to a convenient size so that 
it could be readily grasped by the hand. The ark, except 
at the bow and stern, and a small space in the centre 
where the cabin was built, was securely covered with 

lOI 



Charles Williamson 



boards, as well to protect the cargo as to furnish a smooth 
walk for the oarsman." 

The rafting and the ark - building were a source of 
great elation to Colonel Williamson. The industry of 
the country was thereby increased, and Bath itself, as the 
head of navigation and the shipping point to market for 
grain, lumbers, and other products, became more cele- 
brated. The place became a busy scene of exportation. 
Storehouses were built at convenient sites for the storage 
of cargo. During the winter loaded sleighs came crowd- 
ing in from Geneva and Genesee with produce to be stored 
and afterwards shipped. When the spring freshets came 
the arks were floated to the storehouses, the grain was 
poured into them in bulk, and the arks thus freighted 
set out on their voyage to reach the markets. Their 
course was down the Conhocton and Chemung to the 
Susquehanna, then down the Susquehanna to tide-water. 
They did not always reach their destination. Unfitted 
to cope adequately with the many difficulties that attended 
the navigation of the rivers, about one in ten emptied 
its contents into the water as it was dashed upon some 
unknown obstruction, or was stranded. Yet despite 
difficulty and loss, thousands upon thousands of bushels 
of grain found their way to market through this precarious 



Commercial Prospects 



channel. The expectations of the future of Bath became 
rosy in the light of all this commercial prosperity. 
Williamson's sanguine temperament overflowed with 
bright anticipations of its growth and greatness, and he 
believed that it was bound to become the great commercial 
metropolis of South-Western New York. What it might 
have developed into, had the condition of things that then 
obtained continued, would probably have been in the 
line of Williamson's bright dreams of future greatness ; 
but it was not to be. Twenty-five years later, the Erie 
Canal, proposed in 1808 and started in 181 1, was com- 
pleted and opened ; and the Crooked Lake Canal Com- 
pany, connecting the Lakes Keuka and Seneca, made 
the head of Lake Keuka, eight miles from Bath, the head 
canal navigation for that part of Western New York. 
This era of transportation by canal largely superseded 
that of the ark and raft on the rivers, and the Erie 
Canal did the carrying trade of the country in 1833, 
when the whistle of the locomotive was first heard in 
the land. 

In the midst of all his judicial, legislative, military, 
and commercial duties, Colonel Williamson turned his 
versatile talents to the art of architecture, and in 1799 
beg-an to build on the farm of Springfield, near Lake 



Charles Williamson 



Salubria, a large mansion house, which he destined for 
his future residence, in place of the earlier house which 
had been built for him in the town of Bath. When 
finished it was the largest private dwelling in Western 
New York, and was so constructed that hospitality 
might be dispensed in it on a princely scale. Although 
necessarily built of wood, its spacious apartments, broad 
halls, and grand assembly room, with their high ceil- 
ings and heavy mouldings, all finished and furnished 
exquisitely after the latest fashion, gave it a character 
of magnificence which was universally admired. It was 
flanked by two wings, each as large as an ordinary 
dwelling-house, set off with piazzas and porticoes. Maude, 
who visited Williamson in 1800, describes it with ap- 
proval. "The plan," he says, "is original, Captain 
Williamson being his own architect. I have seen no 
plans for country dwelling-houses that I would more 
readily adopt than Captain Williamson's. This is a 
single house with two stories and wings. The Americans 
have a great antipathy to wings; they invariably hold to the 
solid column, the cellar kitchen, and the dormer windows." 
The grounds of the mansion, in keeping with the building, 
were artistically laid out, and graced with ornamental trees 

and shrubs, and the then rare Lombardy poplars. 

104 



Mansion of Springfield 



On its completion, in 1801, it was placed in charge 
of Major Presley Thornton, a kinsman of Washington, 
and an officer in the Revolution, who had just come 
from Virginia with a young wife of rare wit and beauty, 
long known as " The Madame," because of her grace- 
ful and commanding ways. On account of circumstances 
now to be explained, the intention of Williamson to 
use the house as a permanent abode was departed 
from. But it served him as a temporary home during 
the two years that elapsed between its completion and 
his return to Scotland. There for a time he maintained 
an elaborate establishment, and dispensed hospitality 
with a generous hand, attracting, by his brilliant as- 
semblies, all the beauty and aristocracy of the Genesee 
country and the valley of the Susquehanna. 



los 



CHAPTER IX 

DISAGREEMENT OF WILLIAMSON WITH HIS PRINCIPALS RE- 
SIGNATION OF THE AGENCY — RESIDENCE AT SPRING- 
FIELD THE THORNTONS 




HE manifold labours in which Williamson 
engaged, the advantages he created or 
developed, and the improvements he 
effected, necessarily involved the expendi- 
ture of a considerable amount of money. We have 
seen how he caused the forest to be cleared, organised 
settlements, improved the navigation, built houses, a 
hotel, a gaol, a courthouse and a school, erected mills, 
and a theatre, and other structures that were demanded 
by the needs of a new town which he desired to make 
worthy of the position that had been assigned to it. 
In addition, he threw across the Conhocton the first 
river bridge constructed in the country, placed boats on 

Lake Ontario, and built, or contributed to the building 
106 



Disagreement of Williamson 



of, roads which were essential to the complete opening 
up of the country to the march of civilisation. The roads 
with which his name is associated are : — The State 
Road, from Fort Schuyler to Geneva, the Niagara 
Road, one from Lyons to Palmyra, one from Hopeton 
to Townsends, one from Seneca Falls to Lyons Mills, 
and another from Cushong to Hopeton. 

His principals, far removed from the scene of 
actions, and knowing, therefore, imperfectly the exigen- 
cies of the circumstances, could not understand the 
laying out of so much capital. They erroneously con- 
sidered the expenditure excessive, and declined to ad- 
vance any more money. 

About this time the Legislature of New York 
passed an Act authorising aliens for three years to take 
the title to real estate. The dissatisfaction of the princi- 
pals prompted them to take advantage of this Act, and 
they decided to assume the titles in their own names, 
and place a new agent in charge. 

Accordingly, there was an accounting and appraisal. 
Williamson assigned to his principals $551,699.78 worth 
of bonds, mortgages, and notes, and on March 31, 
1 80 1, conveyed to them the unsold lands, which were 
valued at $3,547,494.58. Besides the original purchase 



Charles Williamson 



he conveyed over 5,000 acres of land just west of the 
Genesee, the Cottinger tract in the Morris Reserve, 600 
acres in the Mihtary tract, and thousands of acres in 
Otsego, Kerkimer, Chenango, CHnton, Albany, and 
Montgomery counties. Under his administration he had 
expended, in purchasing lands, making improvements, 
and other expenses, $1,374,470.10; he had received 
for lands sold, $147,974.83 ; and besides this there was 
an indebtedness outstanding of about $300,000, the most 
of which was the unpaid purchase price of land out- 
side of the original purchase. As a matter of fact, the 
result of the accounting showed a much better con- 
dition of affairs than had been anticipated ; and the 
stewardship of Williamson is best justified by the fact 
that the Pulteney Estate found it necessary to spend 
but little afterwards, and has ever since kept up the 
sale of lands at continually advancing prices. 

Through all the transaction Colonel Williamson's 
integrity came forth clear and unbroken. The English 
Syndicate far from having cause for dissatisfaction owed 
him a deep debt of gratitude for his devotion to his 
trust and for many shrewd financial moves. A large part 
of his payments he made in drafts ; and at times when 

his principals were slow in remitting funds he raised 

108 



Resignation of the Agency 

money by drawing on Morris, or some other friend at 
a distance, and hazarding the loss of three or four per 
cent, interest and twenty per cent, damages for non- 
acceptance, in the hope of getting money to meet it by 
the time the draft should be presented. 

Colonel Williamson resigned his trust, and Colonel 
Robert Troup was appointed his successor in the agency. 

To surrender a mission at the very time when it is 

about to be crowned by a successful issue ; to give up the 

cherished work of years at the very moment of fruition, 

and to see others entering into one's labours is a trial 

not easy to bear. Colonel Williamson found it a hard 

experience, and his disappointment was keen. It is 

probable that after the accounting and the satisfactory 

result of it, the attitude of the Syndicate towards him 

became once more favourable. Sir William Pulteney, 

who held the major part of the shares, seems to have 

been the cause of the upturning ; and a few years later, 

on October lo, 1804, he wrote thus to Dr. Roneayre from 

Weymouth : " I am much obliged to you for sending 

me that part of Mr. Troup's letter which relates to Mr. 

Williamson. He supposes that I have instigated some 

persons to resentment against him, which I can assure 

you is not the fact. I disapproved of the large sums 
109 



Charles Williamson 



Mr. Williamson had drawn for, but I never entertained 
any doubts of his integrity, ability, or good intentions, 
and I shall certainly be very glad to see him when he 
comes over. Some persons in America, he says, had 
impressed him in a belief that he had everything 
to apprehend from me, if he came to England, 
than which nothing could be more untrue, and I can in 
no way account for it. I feel myself much obliged to 
Mr. Troup for the letter he took the trouble to write 
me on my affairs, and the interest he takes in Mr. 
Williamson is very satisfactory to me." 

But if the disappointment to Williamson was keen, 
the blow to Bath caused by his resignation was severe. 
The event was deplored by all the settlers in the country. 
No man was more greatly loved and respected. At the 
very time when circumstances compelled him to with- 
draw from his trust he was engaged in furthering the 
cause of education and in pushing forward improvements 
that promised benefit to struggling humanity. When he 
gave up the agency many of the things which he had 
been instrumental in beginning collapsed. The Bath 
Gazette suspended publication ; the theatrical company 
disbanded, and the old theatre fell into ruins ; and the 

famous race-course, for a time, was abandoned, and pines 
no 



Residence at Springfield 



and scrub oaks covered the track. Many of his old 
friends and associates migrated from the country and 
sought homes in other places. 

The resignation of the agency, however, did not by 
any means deprive Williamson of his resources. Apart 
from the income derived from his late office, he was in 
possession of several farms, village property in Geneva 
and Bath, wild lands, mortgages, and much personal 
estate. He owned the whole of Bluff point, and once 
contemplated the erection of a magnificent castle on its 
towering heights. There is a legend among the oldest 
residenters of Bath that he was wont to ride on horse- 
back along the west shore of Keuka Lake almost as 
far as Gibson, and then swim his steed bearing him on 
its back across the lake to his commanding domain. 

After his withdrawal from the agency Williamson 

retired to his mansion at Springfield, in which he had 

put Major Thornton and his charming wife. Williamson's 

wife was in Albany much of this time ; and it would seem 

from several letters written about this date that his 

domestic relations were somewhat strained, probably 

owing to the difference of temperament and breeding 

of himself and his wife. 

During the next two years he busied himself with 
III 



Charles Williamson 



his personal affairs, and for pleasure or business was a 
frequent visitor at New Yorlv and the large cities of the 
country. On one occasion he made the journey between 
New York and Bath within a week. He was, as we 
have seen, fond of entertaining and attending social 
gatherings. He joined the Free Masons ; and his 
personal account book shows that on November i6, 
1802, prior to a visit to England, he gave a supper to 
the Lodge of Masons at Metcalfs Inn, at an expense of 
$45*24. In the same year he gave $500 to Canandaigua 
Academy, and paid $8' 14 as his taxes in the town of 
Bath. 

The Thorntons, who were associated with Williamson 
in his residence at Springfield, retained the mansion until 
1806, when Major Thornton died. The mansion with its 
appurtenances fell into other hands. The purchaser failed 
and it fell to his creditors, and soon the famous mansion, 
with its garden and walks showed signs of decay and 
became a picture of desolation. About the year i860 
the ruins were taken down to give place to a farmhouse 
which at the present time occupies the site. 

Major Thornton had brought with him a few slaves 
as household servants. He was followed next year by 
Captain William Helm, a wealthy planter from Virginia, 



The Thorntons 



with his family and a retinue of about forty slaves. Cap- 
tain Helm purchased a number of farms and set his 
negroes to cultivate them. He built a fine mansion on 
the present site of the First National Bank, and lived 
there in great splendour. He purchased and rebuilt the 
old grist mill erected by Williamson near the bridge, 
and engaged John Richardson as miller, who ground the 
first superfine flour. On the death of his wife he married 
the widow of Major Thornton, a woman of strong in- 
dividuality, grace, and attractiveness, who for a time 
reigned as queen of fashionable society in Bath. Captain 
Helm entered into large speculations. His money soon 
gave out and his enterprises failed. Some of his slaves 
ran away ; some were seized by the sheriff and sold to 
satisfy his creditors, and finally his whole estate vanished. 
He fell into intemperate habits and his wife left him; and 
in 1826 he died in poverty in the village of Bath, cared 
for only by one of his former slaves. His widow, or 
Madam Thornton, to give her the old name under which 
she was always spoken of, who through severe experiences 
passed from being the owner of many slaves and much 
property and the leader of society to real poverty and 
need, bore her great reverse of fortune with singular 

patience and fortitude. " The nearest to complaint which 

113 H 



Charles Williamson 



I can recall," says the Rev. Dr. Miller, " was once her 
saying, ' I should be very content while I stayed here 
were I sure of the same fare my old servants always had 
in my kitchen. ' " Latterly she removed to Ogdensburg 
and died there, supported by a simple faith in Christ as 
the Resurrection and the Life. 



114 



CHAPTER X 

Williamson's return to Scotland — diplomatic service 
under the british government his death testi- 
monies to his character — his descendants 




ILLIAMSON, in 1801, had sent his only 
surviving daughter, aged eight years, to 
relations in Scotland to be educated. At 
the beginning of 1803 he himself sailed 
for Falmouth, England, and spent the summer in his 
native country. Old friends of his own and of his family, 
who held influential positions under Government, brought 
him into prominent notice, and he had offers of employ- 
ment in the British Diplomatic Service. A diplomatic 
appointment at Constantinople he declined ; but he seems 
to have resolved to accept other offers ; and, probably 
for the purpose of disposing of his lands and property, 

and thus freeing himself from his ties in America, he 
"5 



Charles Williamson 



returned to Bath within a year. During the next three 
years he made frequent journeys between England and 
America ; but at the end of 1806, after the death of 
Major Thornton, he left the Genesee country for the 
last time. 

His departure was hastened by his being summoned 
by the English Government to undertake a special com- 
mission. On his arrival, he was despatched to Egypt to 
investigate the condition of affairs in that country, over 
which Great Britain finally established her protectorate. 
His report was so carefully and justly drawn that he was 
publicly thanked in the House of Commons ; and, not- 
withstanding that it ran counter to his interests, its truth- 
fulness was acknowledged by the Pasha of Egypt, who 
presented him with a jewelled sword. 

In 1808 he was sent by Mr. Pitt with sealed orders 

to Lord Collingwood, who was then lying off Cadiz ; 

thence he was sent on some Governmental mission to 

Cuba. Whatever was the nature of the mission on which 

he was engaged he performed it with his accustomed 

wisdom, tact, and delicacy. Again he won the approval 

of the English Ministry, and was on his way home under 

promise of receiving the appointment of Governor of one 

of our dependencies as the reward of his work, when he 
116 



His Death 

was struck down with yellow fever, and died at sea in 
the fifty-first year of his age. 

Thus passed away one of the most laborious, earnest, 
and companionable of men, at the very time when, having 
accomplished one great task as a pioneer and town-maker, 
he had begun to give further evidence of the almost 
inexhaustible versatility of his gifts by a special aptitude 
for the more delicate office of the diplomat. What he 
might have become had Providence willed to spare him 
longer to the service of his country, it is perhaps difficult 
to form any estimate ; but he had qualifications which 
might have found a fitting sphere in some high office of 
State, in which his richly endowed personality would 
have proved itself an inspiration and a national blessing. 

His friend. Colonel Walker, on hearing of his death 
thus wrote to Mr. William Ellis, Edinburgh : " An extract 
sent me from an English newspaper announces the death 
of my friend Colonel Williamson, as having happened on 
his passage from Havannah to England. It is an event 
which will be most sincerely lamented by numerous 
acquaintances in this country who esteemed and loved 
him." 

After his death it was said of him by George M'Clure, 

who had known him intimately in the early days of Bath : 
117 



Charles Williamson 



"He was a perfect gentleman, high-souled and honour- 
able, generous and humane, obliging and courteous to all, 
whether rich or poor." 

Turner, who studied and wrote the early history of 
the Phelps and Gorham purchase, thus estimated the 
character of Williamson: "Well educated, possessing 
more than ordinary social qualities, with a mind improved 
by travel and association with the best classes of Europe, 
his society was sought after by the many educated and 
intelligent men who came to this region in the earliest 
settlement ; and he knew well how to adapt himself to 
circumstances, and to all classes that went to make up 
the aggregate of the early adventurers. Changing his 
habits of life with great ease and facility, he was at 
home in every primitive cabin — a welcome, cheerful, and 
contented guest, with words of encouragement for those 
who were sinking under the hardships of pioneer life, 
and often ready with substantial aid to relieve their 
necessities." 

In 1830 the Penn Yan Democrat said of him : "Colonel 
Williamson was a gentleman of great worth and enter- 
prise, and his memory will be cherished by the early 
settlers of this country with every demonstration of respect 
to which the character of a great and good man is entitled. 



Testimonies to His Character 

Under his agency the settlers experienced the benefits 
of a liberal and enlightened policy. He was not restrained 
by those narrow views which covetousness creates in 
sordid and avaricious men. The rapid settlement and 
development of the country under his direction was beheld 
with wonder and admiration. Mills were erected, roads 
constructed, and every avenue to market opened of which 
the nature of the country admitted. These, with many 
other improvements, are both an evidence of his zeal for 
the prosperity of the settlers, of his unwearied exertions 
to increase the value of the property confided to his care, 
and form a striking feature in the history of his adminis- 
tration. No wilderness ever disappeared and became the 
abode of a numerous population in so short a period as 
did this under his agency. Oppressing the settlers by 
exacting the performance of hard and ill-judged contracts, 
or driving them to despair by incessant demands of com- 
pound interest, formed no part of his system. The 
remuneration of the proprietors from the future ability 
of the settlers to pay was the leading feature of his 
policy." 

In a later history of Steuben County, published in 
1853, G. H. M'Master says : "Captain Williamson was 

a man of talent, hope, energy, and versatility, generous, 
119 



Charles Williamson 



brave of spirit, swift and impetuous of action, of un- 
questionable discretion in business, a lover of sport and 
excitement, and well calculated by his temperament and 
genius to lead the enterprise which had been assigned to 
his undertaking." 

Testimony other than the most favourable there could 
be none. As no man in the Genesee Tract ever 
despatched so much and so varied work, or did so much 
to develop the country, so no one was held in higher 
honour or the more profoundly respected and admired. 
Bath still clings to his memory as one of its dearest 
possessions, a perennial source of inspiration to those 
who now enjoy the fruit of his labours to maintain un- 
tarnished the inheritance he bequeathed, and to further 
the progress of the civilisation which he introduced. 

Colonel Williamson had two brothers — John Hope, 
a captain in the British Army, and David Robertson, 
who afterwards became a Judge of the Court of Session 
under the title of Lord Balgray. 

Lord Balgray married his cousin, Williamina Boyd, 
who was heiress of her uncle. General Robertson, from 
whom she inherited the estate of Lawers, in Perth- 
shire, Scotland. 

Mrs. Williamson, the Colonel's wife, continued to 

120 



His Descendants 



reside in Geneva, Ontario, after her husband's departure 
from the country and subsequent death, and died there 
on August 2 1 St, 1824. 

Colonel Williamson had three children, (i) Christina, 
who was born on November ist, 1786, and died at Bath, 
on September 27th, 1793; (2) Ann, born about 1792, 
married, in 18 10, to David S. Buchanan, Esquire of 
Cunninghamhead in Ayrshire, and died after 1826 ; 
and (3) Charles Alexander, who was born on Novem- 
ber 1 2th, 1794. 

Charles Alexander lived with his mother in Geneva, 
Ontario, until he was about fourteen years of age, when 
he was sent to Scotland for his education, and was 
boarded with a Doctor Fleming in Edinburgh, in 1808. 
About the year 1828 he married Miss Catharine Clark, 
of New York, and resided for some time afterwards at 
Geneva. In the following year he brought his wife to 
Scotland to visit his relations. Her beauty and amiable 
character soon won for herself the affection of her hus- 
band's family, and the remembrance of her still lingers 
lovingly in the hearts of those who knew her. 

Mrs. Charles A. Williamson had an only brother, 
Bayard Clark, who was in the diplomatic service, and 
a charming sister, Isabella, who married Mr. Cochrane, 



Charles Williamson 



a gentleman of Nova Scotia. These seem to have been 
the only remaining members of the Clark family, and 
they had much monied interest in the Docks of New 
York. 

About 1836, Charles Alexander Williamson removed 
his family to Scotland, and made his home there. In the 
height of the gold fever of 1849 he returned again to 
America, landed at St. Louis, and started for Cali- 
fornia. But before his operations could be proceeded 
with, he was taken suddenly ill of cholera at Fort 
Leavenworth, on the Rocky Mountains, and died there 
in May of the same year. He was nursed by Red 
Indians, who sent his watch and last letter to Scotland. 
He had left his wife in a delicate state of health in 
Edinburgh, where she died contemporaneously with her 
husband, and it is said that they were buried at the 
same time, the husband at Fort Leavenworth, the wife 
at Monzievaird, in Perthshire. Many years afterwards 
the body of Charles Alexander Williamson was brought 
home by his son and, with tender, filial affection, laid 
at rest in the quiet churchyard of Monzievaird, by the 
side of his wife Catherine. 

They had five daughters and a son born to them. 
Their son, David Robertson, was born in Geneva, on 



His Descendants 



February 13th, 1830. He married Selina Maria, daughter 
of the first Baron Tredegar, and they have one son, 
Charles David Robertson. 

David Robertson Williamson resides at Lawers, 
Perthshire, Scotland, where he owns and occupies the 
Robertson estate. 



123 



CHAPTER XI 



THE SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF BATH 




HE history of Bath, subsequent to the 
labours of Williamson, and owing to the 
splendid foundation of future progress 
which he laid, is, with a single outstand- 
ing exception, a history of almost unbroken prosperity. 
It would be outside the purpose of this book to give 
a detailed record of how, during the first hundred years 
of its existence, it reached its present flourishing con- 
dition ; but the following notes on its progress may 
serve to indicate some of the landmarks of its history. 

During the commercial depression which was felt 
in other places of America in the first ten years of the 
nineteenth century, Bath was able to maintain itself 
against retrogression, owing to the large amount of 

business transacted at the Land Office, the long and 
124 



The Subsequent History of Bath 

frequent sessions of the Courts, and the better cultiva- 
tion and improvement of the lands in its immediate 
neighbourhood. 

From William Howell, who came to Bath in 1811, 
we learn that in that year the only streets in Bath 
were Morris, Liberty, and West Steuben, from Pulteney 
Square to its junction with Morris Street. In those 
streets there were some fifty or sixty houses, besides 
buildings of a public character, such as the court-house 
and gaol, the theatre and school. There was also a 
bridge across the river, and near it were a grist-mill 
and distillery, and saw-mills for the timber trade. 
This was practically the state of the village as William- 
son left it, and, small though the place was, it repre- 
sented even then a marvellous transformation from the 
time, eighteen years before, when Williamson first began 
his labours on the unbroken forest. 

In 182 1 the progress of civilisation was marked by 
the establishment of a half-weekly stage between Bath 
and Owego. The stage was a two-seated lumber 
waggon drawn by two horses, and was the only public 
conveyance to and from Bath until 1825, when a mag- 
nificent four-horse Tray coach was started to run daily 

to Owego, Rochester, and Angelica. This mode of 
125 



Charles Williamson 



conveyance was a great advance, for by it passengers 
could reach New York in three days and three nights, 
instead of in more than seven days by the old con- 
veyances. 

The stage-coaches, in course of time, were super- 
seded by the packet boats, which ran night and day, 
served meals on board, had berths, and made better 
time; but in 1833 these were in turn superseded by the 
railways, which largely annihilated distance by reducing 
the time of travelling to a minimum. 

The first brick house in the village and county 
was built by Colonel Bull, in the summer of 1824. 
In the next year the first block of brick stores were 
erected on the east side of Liberty Street; and in 1827 
the old wooden court-house, erected by Colonel William- 
son on the east side of Pulteney Square, was taken down 
and replaced by a large two-storey one of brick. 

The Steuben County Bank was incorporated on 
March 9, 1832, under a charter running thirty years, 
with a capital of $150,000. 

In 1836 a spirit of speculation similar to that of 

1796-97 prevailed throughout the country. Buffalo was 

the centre of it nearest to Bath. Many of the citizens of 

Bath caught the fever of excitement, and migrated. Some 
126 



The Subsequent History of Bath 



took up their residence in Buffalo, and remained long 
enough to reap a profit ; but those who were left in Bath 
suffered sorely from the depopulation. For several years 
afterwards the village felt the effects, and few, if any, improve- 
ments were made. It was the one break in the line of the 
prosperity of Bath, An act incorporating the village had 
been adopted in 1816, but apparently no steps had been 
taken to complete the organisation. Now, in the hope of 
checking the decadence, a new act of incorporation was 
obtained from the Legislature in May 6, 1836. The 
revival of prosperity took some time, but the efforts then 
made were largely successful, and by the charter obtained 
in that period of depression, as amended from time to time, 
the village is still governed. 

The canals which were opened to the north diverted 
the currents of trade from Bath, and destroyed the antici- 
pations which Williamson and others had entertained of 
the greater growth of the town as a commercial centre. 
When the Erie railway was in progress the people revived 
their hopes, and looked to it as the means whereby those 
former expectations might be realised. But, unfortunately, 
the line was diverted to the Canisteo valley, Bath was set 
aside, and the greater benefits that otherwise would have 

been hers passed to Corning and Hornellsville. 
127 



Charles Williamson 



In 1 84 1 the town still bore evidence of the period of 
depression through which it had passed. " The public 
squares and streets were open pastures, ungraded, unen- 
closed, and unadorned. There was not a shade tree, 
except a few scraggy Lombardy poplars on the south- 
west corner of Pulteney Square. That now beautiful 
piece of ground was then rough and uneven ; well-trod 
paths crossed it in every direction ; vagrant cows grazed 
on it ; ' mendicant swine ' rooted and wallowed in soft 
places, and squawking geese pastured there. It also 
served as a parade ground for the militia at their annual 
trainings. Caravans and circuses pitched their tents 
where the ground was smooth enough to admit of it. 
There were no side-walks. The streets were as uneven 
as a rail-fence, intersected by mud-holes, and bordered by 
ponds. Such was the state of the village in 1841." 

But about that time several country villages in the 

States began to beautify their public grounds and streets 

by grading and planting shade-trees. A movement was 

set afoot for the much-needed improvement of Bath. But 

the movement was opposed by a number of the older 

citizens on the ground of expense. It was taken up 

enthusiastically, however, by the bachelors of the town, 

who secured a majority on the Board of Trustees, and in a 
128 



The Subsequent History of Bath 

short time a great change for the better was made in the 
condition of things. The streets were repaired and im- 
proved, two beautiful parks were laid out, the avenues and 
streets were embellished with a magnificent border of 
shade-trees, and Bath was made worthy of its traditions. 

From that time its continued prosperity was secure ; 
and, as the years passed by, greater and lasting improve- 
ments were effected. The old primitive style of buildings 
gradually disappeared ; and to-day Bath is rich in elegant 
residences and large business facilities, a superior educa- 
tional institution, and a valuable free library ; religion is 
represented by six handsome churches, and charity has 
erected a home for orphans, and an extensive home for 
soldiers. The members of the medical profession who now 
practise there are men distinguished for their skill and for 
their devotion to a great science which seeks both to cure 
and prevent the ills of humanity. No other village in the 
State of New York can claim as her sons so many lawyers 
who have been eminent for their ability on the Bench and 
at the Bar. Her clergy are esteemed for their piety and 
faithfulness ; and the local press is well represented by four 
newspapers of established reputation. 

If Bath has not quite realised all that Williamson 

hoped for it, it has, nevertheless, attained to a worthy 
129 I 



Charles Williamson 



condition of which its citizens are justly proud. It has a 
noble history, a prosperous present, and a hopeful future. 
Looking back on the record of a hundred years, It was a 
proud boast to be able to say, as was said of it in the 
Centennial Oration, that it is a record " of public order, of 
reverence for law, of sincere regard for the institutions of 
religion, of devotion to the duties of citizenship, of a pure 
and healthy social life." And the crown of Williamson's 
labours is indicated by the testimony that Bath, erected on 
the forest clearing which he laid bare, and which owes to 
his wisdom and foresight the foundation of its subsequent 
prosperity, "is now a beautiful town, a suburb of great 
cities, sharing with them most of the good they possess, 
but exempt from most that is bad, sure to continue the 
seat of county dignity so long as the State and its county 
system shall remain." 



130 



.A<«^!»_• , ' . -^i' 



CHAPTER XII 



THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 




T the Annual Dinner of the local Board of 
Trade Mr. Anthony L. Underhill, referring 
in a speech to the approaching centenary 
of Bath, made the first public appeal to 
the citizens for a suitable recognition of this important 
event in the history of the village. The idea thus 
suggested bore fruit. On August i, 1S92, a " Round 
Robin," numerously signed by leading citizens under the 
inspiration of General William W. Averell, was sent to 
the Hon. Ansel J. M'Call, requesting him, as pre- 
eminently the most fitted for the purpose, to prepare as 
a necessity to a fitting celebration of the event an historic 
sketch of the first hundred years of Bath and Steuben 
County. Judge M'Call returned a favourable answer to 

the request. 

131 



Charles Williamson 



At first nothing more than this historical monograph 
was contemplated, but the centennial spirit so grew and 
enthusiasm for the occasion so increased that it was finally 
resolved that an effort should be made to hold a public 
celebration of the one hundredth anniversay of the settle- 
ment of the village. For this purpose a meeting of the 
citizens of Bath was called for Friday evening, January 13, 
1893, at which a committee was appointed to carry the 
project into effect. The Committee energetically took 
the matter in hand ; the dates for the celebration were 
fixed for the 4th, 6th, and 7th June, and an official 
programme of events was prepared. 

Meanwhile a deputation from Bath, consisting of 
James M'Call, Esq., and James Robie Kingsley, Esq., 
arrived at Lawers, Perthshire, Scotland, to acknowledge, 
in presence of Colonel David R. Williamson of Lawers, 
the national services to America rendered by his grand- 
father. As the result of that visit Col. D. R. Williamson 
sent as a gift to the Trustees of Bath an oil painting of 
Charles Williamson, copied from a miniature in his 
possession, which the visitors had seen. It was resolved 
that the formal presentation of this portrait should form 
a prominent feature of the centennial celebration. 

Preparations for the occasion were elaborately made. 
132 



The Centennial Celebration 

Every building within the corporation limits had some 
sort of holiday token upon it. Flags and bunting were 
everywhere. Enthusiasm was unstinted. A committee 
of ladies arranged for a Loan Exhibition of valuable 
curios and relics, and designed a centennial spoon, bearing 
an accurate likeness of the Countess of Bath, as a souvenir 
of the festival. From far and near the children of Bath 
came by hundreds to the home of their earlier days to 
commemorate the energy and chivalry of Charles William- 
son and join in the general rejoicing ; and with ideal 
weather and under the most favourable circumstances 
the celebration was signalised with the greatest suc- 
cess. 

The celebration began on Sunday, 4th June, with 
appropriate religious services and historical sermons in 
the local churches at 10.30 a.m., and a united religious 
service in the Casino at 7.30 p.m., at which an address 
was delivered by Prof Miller, LL.D., on "The Church 
in the Community." 

On Monday, 5th June, in anticipation of the presenta- 
tion of the portrait of Charles Williamson, the following 
petition of the Board of Trustees was presented to the 

County Court : — 

133 



Charles Williamson 



"In the matter of the application of the Board of 
Trustees of the Village of Bath to hang the 
portrait of 

Captain Charles Williamson 
in the Court-House at the village of Bath, 
The petition of the Board of Trustees of the village 
of Bath, N.Y., respectfully shows: 

That David Robertson Williamson, of Crieff, Scot- 
land, has presented to the Board of Trustees of the 
village of Bath a portrait of his grandfather, Captain 
Charles Williamson, the founder of the village of Bath. 
Your petitioners further show that they are about 
to accept said portrait on the part of said village, and 
that your petitioners are desirous of securing a suitable 
place to hang the same, and therefore pray that the same 
may be permitted to be hung in the Court- Room of the 
Court-House of the village of Bath. 

Dated, Bath, N.Y., June 5th, 1893. 
(Signed) Thomas Shannon, 

Clerk of the Board of Trustees of the 
Village of Bath, N. Y. " 

The answer to the petition was in the following 

terms : 

134 



The Centennial Celebration 



"At a term of the County Court, held at the Court- 
House in the Village of Bath, N.Y., on the 5th 
day of June, 1893. 

Present — 
Hon. Harlo Hakes, County Judge. 
In the matter of the application of the Board of 
Trustees of the Village of Bath, to hang the 
portrait of 

Captain Charles Williamson 
in the Court-House in the Village of Bath. 

Whereas a petition of the Board of Trustees of the 
Village of Bath, showing that a portrait of Capt. Charles 
Williamson has been presented by his grandson, David 
Robertson Williamson, of Crieff, Scotland, and praying 
for leave to hang the said portrait in the Court- House 
at Bath, having been presented to this Court, and, 

Whereas, Capt. Charles Williamson was the 
founder of the Village of Bath, and did more to accom- 
plish the settlement of Western New York and of the 
County of Steuben than any other person, and. 

Whereas, Capt. Charles Williamson was the first 

Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and General 

Sessions of the County of Ontario, from which the County 
135 



Charles Williamson 



of Steuben was set off, to which office he was appointed by 
Governor George CHnton in 1794, and, 

Whereas, Capt. Charles Williamson built the first 
Court-House in Steuben County, which Court-House was 
erected upon the site of the present one in the Village 
of Bath, and stood until 1826, and. 

Whereas, Capt. Charles Williamson was the first 
Member of Assembly from Steuben County and served 
four successive terms, and, 

Whereas, Capt. Charles Williamson was a Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel in the Militia of the State of New York, 

Now, therefore, on motion of Lucius A. Waldo, of 
Counsel for the Board of Trustees of the Village of Bath, 
it is ordered that said Board of Trustees be permitted to 
hang said portrait of Capt. Charles Williamson in the 
Court-Room of the Court-House In the Village of Bath, 
as long as said Board of Trustees or its successors in 
office may desire. 

(Signed) Harlo Hakes, 

Steuben County Judge. 

Entered June 5th, 1893. 

(A Copy.) 

J. A. Con RAY, 

Dep.-Clerk." 
136 



The Centennial Celebration 

On Tuesday, June 6th, the second day of the cele- 
bration, a meeting was held in the Casino at two p.m., at 
which, after prayer, an Address of Welcome was given by 
Reuben E. Robie, Esq., the President ; a Centennial 
Poem was read by Zenas L. Parker ; a Sketch of the 
Life and Work of Charles Williamson was given by 
James M'Call, Esq. ; and a History of Bath for Fifty 
Years by the Hon. Ansel J. M'Call. In the same place, 
at 7.30 p..m, a Symposium was held, at which Reminis- 
cences were given by several distinguished sons of Bath, 
and for which interesting papers were prepared on the 
Schools, Physicians, Lawyers, Editors, and Soldiers of 
the Village. 

Wednesday, June 7th, was the crowning day of the 
fete. It had been arranged that the portrait of Charles 
Williamson should be presented in presence of the great 
assembly in the morning, and that a Grand Parade of the 
Fire Department, Civic Societies, and General Trades 
should take place in the afternoon. 

At sunrise a Salute of Cannon and Bells was per- 
formed. The Exercises of the morning took place on the 
Fair Grounds, there being no building in the village of 
sufficient capacity to accommodate the thousands of citizens 

and strangers who were present to participate in them. 
137 



Charles Williamson 



At ten o'clock a Procession, numbering more than a 
thousand, of the children of all the Schools of the town was 
mustered under the direction of Clarence Willis, Esq., and, 
headed by five bands, marched in procession to the Grounds, 
where they completely filled the Grand Stand. 

At 10.30 a.m. the proceedings at the Fair Grounds 
began. After prayer by the Chaplain — Rev. M. A. 
Preston — the children united in singing the following 
song, which had been specially written for the occasion 
by General Averell, the Chairman of the Centennial 
Committee : — 

Where pioneers undaunted 
Left homes and kindred dear, 
Sought wilds with danger haunted. 
Now happy roof-trees rear, 
Our homes beloved are here. 

Where perils aye beset them. 
And toils untried, severe, 
Shall we for aye forgot them ? 
Not while our homes are here, 
Our homes beloved are here. 

Their legends shall not perish, 
Of trials, want, and care. 
Their relics proudly cherish, 
And keep like jewels rare, 
In homes beloved while here. 
138 



The Centennial Celebration 



And as each generation 
Shall pass with smile or tear, 
Let every consecration 
Exalt the pioneer 
In homes beloved then here. 

Letters of apology for absence from the Authorities of 
State and Nation were then read by the Secretary ; after 
which Mr. Robie, the President of the proceedings, in a 
few graceful words, introduced Mr. James M'Call to pre- 
sent, on behalf of Colonel David R. Williamson, to the 
village of Bath the portrait of its noted founder. 

Mr. M'Call, in making the presentation, gave the 
following interesting speech : — 

" Go back to 1793, June 7. It is Friday. The busy 
villagers are still discussing the news of the second inaugu- 
ration of George Washington, the coalition formed by Pitt 
against France, and the violent death meted out to Louis 
XVI. by the French Revolutionists, accounts of which are 
contained in a well-thumbed New York newspaper brought 
in last evening by Benjamin Patterson. From the broad- 
mouthed chimney of the small log-house, which dots the 
little clearing south of Pulteney Square, rises a curling 
blue column of smoke delicately outlined against the dark 
green background of South Hill. The sun cannot yet 

shoot his rays into the clearing, and the odour of pine and 
139 



Charles Williamson 



fir sweetens the air. The rough-hewn door of that log 
building opens, and out of it walks a tall, slender man of 
thirty-five. He is erect, and has the manly bearing of a 
soldier and the carriage of a courtier. Beneath a broad- 
brimmed felt hat looks out a smooth-shaven countenance 
that would remind you of Robert Burns. Upon his brow 
is the mark of Scottish frankness, Scottish vigour, and 
Scottish grit. Across his features is the play of humour 
and the smile of gentility. Clad in a cutaway coat, velvet 
waistcoat, buckskin knee-breeches, and high-topped boots, 
whip in hand, he strides towards the well-groomed bay 
mare which, saddled and bridled, stands in charge of 
faithful Michael. With the grace and agility of a cavalier 
he vaults lightly into the saddle, and, casting an eagle eye 
over the busy woodsmen and builders, gallops off through 
the cuttings of Morris Street for Canandaigua. 

" That man is the Pole Star of the great Genesee 
country. It is his head that has planned the development of 
this new region. It is in pursuance of his orders that these 
men are labouring in this clearing ; others checking the 
Conhocton with a dam two miles above ; those working in 
that highway between Dansville and Williamsburgh ; and 
others still building Durham boats at Northumberland. 

To him apply all strangers searching for new homes ; 
140 



The Centennial Celebration 



upon him are poured the complaints of those whose lack of 
thrift and hatred of work have led to bad harvests ; in him 
is to be found the sympathy of a fellow-Scotsman and the 
generosity of a comrade in the British service ; and upon 
him depends the success of all industrial improvements and 
all social gatherings. He must be in New York or Albany 
this week buying new supplies or settling with his banker ; 
next week he must be in Bath entertaining some English 
traveller or French exile ; the week after he must go to 
Williamsburgh to parley with the Indians or remonstrate 
with the Germans ; and before the month is out he must 
inspect the improvements on his farm at Geneva, and 
write long letters to his principals in England. To suc- 
cessfully accomplish all this required a man of wonderful 
versatility and endurance. Such this young man we have 
just seen dashing through the woods proved himself 
to be. 

"His position as agent, with the fullest of powers, 
was indeed unique and important ; his opportunities for 
experiments with men and nature were many, and his 
manner of life exceedingly fascinating. 

" Jerome has wrought on canvas a wonderful picture 
of Napoleon standing alone in the African desert and 
contemplating the herculean labour represented in the 



Charles Williamson 



Sphinx and the Pyramid of Cheops. And it has been 
said that he who makes two blades of grass grow where 
one grew is mightier than the conqueror of armies. Have 
you ever thought what a stupendous work it was to 
transform Western New York from a dense forest into 
fertile farms ? 

" This same young man sternly braved the dangers 
and stoutly bore the toils that he might lay the foundation 
of this pyramid of industry. Ere this you must have 
guessed the name of this ' Baron of the Backwoods.' It 
is Captain Charles Williamson, and his features are now 
before you. 

"As a matter of explanation and a condensation of 
the remarks of yesterday, 1 will simply add that Colonel 
Charles Williamson had two children who survived him — 
Charles A. and Ann. Charles A. Williamson resided in 
this country for a long time, and married a Miss Clark, 
of Rochester. They had several children, the oldest of 
whom is David Robertson Williamson, of Crieff, Scotland. 

" In the foot-hills of the Scottish Highlands, in that 

fair county of Perth, where the broad and fertile valley 

of the Earn leads from Crieff to the gray-topped mountain 

of Ben Vorlich, which looks down into the clear waters 

of Loch Earn, stands Lawers House, a handsome white 

142 



The Centennial Celebration 

building, the ancient seat of the Robertson family. Set 
in a background of beeches and oaks, which fill to the 
top the sloping hillside, the ancestral home looks to the 
southward down a broad avenue of greensward bordered 
by stately oaks, and extending unbroken across the valley. 
From the hospitable porch we see sleek cattle grazing 
in the meadows, swans are floating;" in the curling-pond 
below, a small lodge is to the left, a handsome little 
family house to the right, trim hedges of thorn, a few 
maples whose seed came from the Genesee valley, pretty 
driveways which circle through the grounds, a neat chapel 
in the distance, while a clock in the quaint belfry at the 
western extremity of the big house marks the hour of 
day. That is now the home of David Robertson 
Williamson, Esq. He is a worthy scion of a most dis- 
tinguished grandfather — a leading gentleman of his county, 
foremost in every industrial enterprise, honoured and 
revered by the country wide, a good shot, and an expert 
horseman. When I saw him last October he appeared 
greatly interested in hearing of the present condition of 
Steuben, and pleased to learn that his grandfather and 
himself were not forgotten in the land of his birth. 

" In this little pocket memorandum, which has bravely 

stood the ravages of ninety years, is a short entry made 
143 



Charles Williamson 



in the small handwriting of Charles Williamson just as 
he was about to sail for England. It reads: 'Jny. 5, 
1803. Paid Mr. Robinson for my miniature, S30. Paid 
for setting same, $30.' That miniature was a farewell 
gift to his charming friend, Madam Thornton, and 
remained in her possession in this village until 18 10, 
when she kindly presented it to his daughter, Ann, in 
Scotland ; and the country for which he had done so 
much, and to which he had given the best years of his 
life, was left without an image of his kindly face. That 
miniature now hangs among the ancestral portraits in 
the grand staircase of Lawers House, and opposite is a 
large bust portrait in oil, painted probably about 1790. 
We endeavoured to obtain a photograph of this, and the 
genial Mr. Williamson promised to assist us. Imagine 
my surprise when, after some correspondence, the follow- 
ing letter, teeming with the politeness and generosity of 
the writer, was received : — 

'"Lawers, Perthshire, Scotland, 

Tregedar Lawers, Crieff, N.B., 
1st May, 1893. 
":To James M'Call, Esq., Bath, U.S.A. 

" ' My Dear Sir, — I send from this place to-morrow, 

as my gift to the trustees of the village of Bath, an oil- 
144 



The Centennial Celebration 



painting copied from the portrait of my grandfather, 
Colonel Charles Williamson. The said painting I hope 
the trustees will place in the Free Library or the Court- 
house, or in any similar building that the trustees may 
consider suitable. I may remind you that you saw the 
original portrait of my grandfather within Lawers House. 
And I pointed out to you the valuable sword presented 
to my grandfather by the Pasha of Egypt of that day 
for the important service given ; and for the satisfactory 
political results following my grandfather's mission to 
Egypt he received the thanks of England's House of 
Commons. My grandfather had the reputation in this 
country of being a brave and chivalrous soldier ; his 
regiment was the 25th (and one of his great-grandsons 
is now an officer in that regiment, and was wounded in 
the last Egyptian war). 

" ' My grandfather was last sent on a commission 
by the British Government to report of the state of 
Havana, and, while returning to England, he was smitten 
with yellow fever, and died at sea, a.d. 1808. My grand- 
father was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on July 12, 1757. 
I showed you my grandfather's watch, which I generally 
wear. I will look over some of my grandfather's papers, 

and, if I find memoranda of interest, I will send you copies 
145 "^ 



Charles Williamson 



of the same. I have before me a work of two volumes, 
' Travels through North America,' by the Duke de la 
Rochefoucault. In that work my grandfather is most 
honourably mentioned, published a.d. 1799. Of my grand- 
father's life in America you know probably more than 
I do. In answer to your complimentary suggestion in 
letter, 21st March, 1893, V^^^ must excuse me saying any- 
thing about myself — I am, very truly yours, 

" ' (Signed) David R. Williamson.' 

" Would that the distinguished donor were stand- 
ing in my place to charm you with his manners, as 
I know he would, and to observe the widespread feel- 
ing of gratitude which I am sure is welling up in your 
breasts, to be thus honoured by his gift. I confidently 
trust that you will treasure it as a precious souvenir, 
and place it in some safe depository, where the men, 
women, and children of this generation, and those that 
come after, can look upon those manly features and 
draw inspiration, energy, and reverence from that good 
face. 

" Without further remarks, I therefore have the 

honour, on behalf of David Robertson Williamson, Esq., 
146 



The Centennial Celebration 

to present to the Trustees of the village of Bath, the 
portrait of its founder, its citizen, and its friend." 

Mr. Byron L. Smith, who accepted the gift on 
behalf of the corporate authorities of the village, said : 

" It gives me great pleasure, on behalf of the 
Trustees of this village, and on behalf of the citizens 
of Bath, to accept from Mr. M'Call, the representative 
of David Robertson Williamson, this splendid painting 
and memorial of his ancestor, and the founder of this 
village. Captain Charles Williamson. 

" We have assembled here to-day to commemorate 
his work and its results, and to hear from others fitting 
tribute in historical detail to the fruits of his great 
undertaking, and to listen to a recital of the perils he 
encountered and the difficulties he overcame. Sur- 
rounded by the monuments of a new civilisation, the 
wide streets, the brick blocks, the comfortable dwellings 
of our citizens, it is hard to conceive the courage and 
powers of endurance which the founding of a settlement 
in the heart of a wilderness required a hundred years ago. 

" The example set by the man whose lineaments 

are traced upon this picture may well encourage us all 

to beautify, to build up, and make more prosperous this 

village of Bath. We accept this friendly gift in the 
147 



Charles Williamson 



same warm spirit with which it is tendered to us. We 
honour the ancestor, and extend most hearty greetings 
to his generous descendant who has so kindly remem- 
bered us on this occasion." 

The gift thus received is kept as a treasured pos- 
session, as the following minute of a meeting of the 
Board of Trustees clearly shows : — 

" At a Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees 

of the Village of Bath, N.Y., held in the 

office of the Village Clerk, on the 23rd day 

of August, 1893. Present — Talcott W. Gould, 

President ; B. L. Smith, Trustee; E. E. Aber, 

ditto; O. W. Sutton, ditto: W. H. Phillips, 

ditto : 

It was resolved on the motion of Trustee Smith : 

Whereas Colonel Charles Williamson is entitled to 

credit for the beautiful location of Bath village, and 

also for the early development of Western New 

York: 

Therefore be it resolved that we will always treasure 

the splendid gift with deep feelings of reverence, not 

only for the founder of our village, but also for his 

grandson ; and that as a further token of our esteem 

148 



The Centennial Celebration 

the said painting of Colonel Charles Williamson be 
hung in the Court- House of the said village. 

(Signed) T. W. Gould, President. 

Thomas Shannon, Clerk." 

Following the interesting ceremony of the presenta- 
tion of the portrait, a Centennial Oration was delivered 
by the Hon. Sherman S. Rogers. At the close of Mr. 
Roger's oration, the Rev. Benjamin S. Sanderson rose 
and said : 

•' It is to be regretted that in the selection of names 
for the various landmarks of our beautiful village that 
of our founder should have been passed over. I am 
authorised, by the General Committee of the Centennial, 
to propose the following resolution, as the formal close 
of our public literary exercises : 

" Resolved, That, in grateful recognition of the well- 
planned labours of Colonel Charles Williamson, the name of 
Lake Salubria be hereby changed to Lake Williamson." 

The resolution was received with hearty applause, 

and was unanimously carried ; and with the Parade m 

the afternoon, and an Old Time Reception in the 

evening, the celebration of the First Centennial of Bath 

came to an end. 

149 



Charles Williamson 



It was a fitting tribute to one whom the people of 
Bath have great cause to honour ; and the tribute was the 
expression of a deep-seated and lasting sentiment. The 
legacy which the past has transmitted to the present can 
never exhaust the gratitude of those who now enjoy the 
ripened fruit of the toils and sacrifices of the men who 
transformed the wilderness into the home of civilisation. 
And of these men the highest niche in the temple of 
honour and fame erected in the grateful hearts of the 
people of Bath must be assigned to Charles Williamson, 
the able administrator and wise leader, the fearless pioneer 
and patient worker, the man of superlative gifts and graces, 
whose example of integrity and dauntless endeavour must 
ever be an inspiration to those who know the record of 
his work and worth, and whose best memorial is to be 
found in that which he has done : 

" Si monumentum quseris, circumsplce." 



150 






APPENDIX 



THE SODUS SETTLEMENT DISPUTE — ^LETTERS ON THE CRISIS 
BY PRESIDENT GEORGE WASHINGTON AND SECRETARY 
RANDOLPH 




HE following letters are interesting not only 
on account of the high standing of their 
writers, but also as supplementing the 
information given in Chapter V. regarding 
the British encroachments. 

President ^Washington thus wrote to Mr. Jay, the 
American Minister in London : 

"August 30, 1794. 

" As you will receive letters from the Secretary of 

State's Office giving an official account of the public 

occurrences as they have arisen and advanced, it is 

unnecessary for me to retouch any of them ; and yet I 

cannot restrain myself from making some observations 

on the most recent of them, the communication of which 

was received this morning only. I mean the protest 

151 



Appendix 



of the Governor of Upper Canada, delivered by Lieu- 
tenant Sheaffe, against our occupying lands far from 
any of the posts which long ago they ought to have 
surrendered, and far within the known and until now 
the acknowledged limits of the United States. 

" On this irregular and high-handed proceeding of 
Mr. Simcoe, which is no longer masked, I would rather 
hear what the Ministry of Great Britain will say than 
pronounce my own sentiments thereon. But can that 
Government, or will it attempt to, after this official act 
of their Governor, hold out ideas of friendly intentions 
towards the United States, and suffer such conduct to 
pass with impunity? 

" This may be considered as the most open and daring 

act of the British Agents in America, though it is not 

the most hostile and cruel ; for there does not remain 

a doubt in the mind of any well-informed person in this 

country, not shut against conviction, that all the difficulties 

we encounter with the Indians, their hostilities, the 

murders of the helpless women and children along our 

frontiers, result from the conduct of agents of Great 

Britain in this country. In vain is it, then, for its 

Administration in Britain to disavow having given orders 

which will warrant such conduct, whilst their agents go 

152 



Appendix 

unpunished, while we have a thousand corroboratincr 
circumstances, and indeed as many evidences, some of 
which cannot be brought forward, to prove that they 
are seducing from our alliances, and endeavouring to 
remove over the line, tribes that have hitherto been 
kept in peace and friendship with us at a heavy expense, 
and who have no causes of complaint except pretended 
ones of their own creating ; whilst they keep in a state 
of irritation the tribes that are hostile to us, and are 
instigating those who know little of us as we of them 
to unite in the war against us ; and whilst it is an 
undeniable fact that they are furnishing the whole with 
arms, ammunition, clothing, and even provisions to carry 
on the war. I might go further, and, if they are not 
much belied, add, men also in disguise. 

" Can it be expected, I ask, so long as these things 
are known in the United States, or at least firmly 
believed, and suffered with impunity by Great Britain, 
that there ever will or can be any cordiality between 
the two countries? I answer, NO. And I will under- 
take, without the gift of prophecy, to predict that it will 
be impossible to keep this country in a state of amity 
with Great Britain long if these posts are not surrendered. 

A knowledge of these being my sentiments would have 
153 



Appendix 

but little weight, I am persuaded, with the British 
Administration or perhaps with the nation in effecting 
the measures ; but both may rest satisfied that, if they 
want to be at peace with this country, and to enjoy the 
benefits of its trade, to give up the posts is the only 
road to it. If they are withheld, and if the consequences 
we feel at present continue, war will be inevitable." 

Secretary Randolph thus wrote to the Honourable 
George Hammond, Minister Plenipotentiary of His 
Britannic Majesty : 

" Philadelphia, 
"is/ September, 1794. 

"Sir, — If on the information upon which my letter 
of the 20th May was founded any considerable doubt 
has remained of Governor Simcoe's invasion, your long 
silence without a refutation of it, and our more recent 
intelligence forbid us to question its truth. It is supported 
by the respectable opinions, which have been since 
transmitted to the Executive, that, in the late attack 
on Fort Recovery, British officers and British soldiers 
were on the very ground aiding our Indian enemies. 

" But, Sir, as if the Governor of Upper Canada 

was resolved to destroy every possibility of disbelieving 

154 



Appendix 

his hostile views, he has sent to the Great Sodus — a 
settlement begun on a bay of the same name on Lake 
Ontario — a command to Captain Williamson, who derives 
a title from the State of New York, to desist from his 
enterprise. This mandate was borne by a Lieutenant 
Sheaffe under a military escort, and in its tone corresponds 
with the form of its delivery, being one generally of a 
military and hostile nature. It was in the following terms : 

" ' I am commanded to declare that, during the 
inexecution of the treaty ot peace between Great Britain 
and the United States, and until the existing differences 
respecting it shall be mutually and finally adjusted, taking 
possession of any part of the Indian territory, either for 
the purposes of war or sovereignty, is held to be a direct 
violation of His Britannic Majesty's rights as they 
unquestionably existed before the treaty, and has an 
immediate tendency to interrupt, and, in its progress, 
to destroy that good understanding which has hitherto 
subsisted between His Britannic Majesty and the United 
States of America. I therefore require you to desist from 
any such aggression. . . R. H . Sheafke, 

" ' Lieu. Qr.-Mr.-Genl. Dept. of His 

" ' Britannic Majesty s Service." 
155 



Appendix 

" Captain Williamson being from home, a letter 
was written to him by Lieutenant Sheaffe in the following 
words : 

" ' SODUS, 

" ' August 1 6, 1794. 

" ' Sir, — Having a special commission and instructions 
for that purpose from the Lieutenant-Governor of His 
Britannic Majesty's Province of Upper Canada, I have 
come here to demand by what authority an establishment 
has been ordered at this place, and to require that such 
a design be immediately relinquished for the reasons 
stated in the written declarations accompanying this letter, 
for the receipt of which protest I have taken an acknow- 
ledgment of your agent, Mr. Little. I regret exceedingly 
in my private as well as public character that I have not 
the satisfaction of seeing you here ; but I hope on my 
return, which will be about a week hence, to be more 
fortunate. I am. Sir, your most obedient servant, 

" ' R. H. Sheaffe, 
" 'Lt., ^th Regt., Q.-M.-G. D: 

" The position of Sodus is represented to be seventy 

miles within the territorial line of the United States, 
156 



Appendix 

about twenty from Oswego, and about one hundred from 
Niagara. 

" For the present all causes of discontent not 
connected with our western territory shall be laid aside ; 
and even among these shall not be revived the root of 
our complaints — the detention of the posts. But while 
peace is sought by us through every channel which honour 
permits, the Governor of Upper Canada is accumulating 
irritation upon irritation. He commenced his operations 
of enmity at the rapids of the Miami. He next associated 
British with Indian force to assault our fort. He now 
threatens us, if we fell our own trees and build houses 
on our own lands. To what length may not Governor 
Simcoe go ? Where is the limit to the sentiment which 
gave birth to these instructions ? Where is the limit 
of the principle which Governor Simcoe avows? 

" The treaty and all its appendages we have submitted 

to fair discussion more than two years ago. To the letter 

of my predecessor, of the 29th May, 1792, you have 

not been pleased to make a reply, except that on the 

20th June, 1793, the 22nd Nov., 1793, and the 21st 

February, [794, you wrote that no instructions had arrived 

from your Court. To say the best of this suspension, 

it certainly cannot warrant any new encroachments, 
157 



Appendix 

howsoever it may recommend to us forbearance under 
the old. 

" It is not for the Governors of His Britannic Majesty 
to interfere with the measures of the United States 
towards the Indians within their territory. You cannot, 
Sir, be insensible that it has grown into a maxim that 
the affairs of the Indians within the boundaries of any 
nation exclusively belong to that nation. But Governor 
Simcoe, disregarding this right of the United States, 
extends the line of usurpation in which he marches by 
referring to the ancient and extinguished rights of His 
Britannic Majesty. For, if the existing condition of the 
treaty keeps them alive on the southern side of Lake 
Ontario, the Ohio itself will not stop their career. 

" You will pardon me, Sir, if, under those excuses 
of Governor Simcoe, I am not discouraged by your 
having formerly disclaimed a control over, and a responsi- 
bility for, the Governors of His Britannic Majesty, from 
resorting to you on this occasion. You are addressed 
from a hope that, if he will not be restrained by your 
remonstrances, he may at least be apprised through 
you of the consequences of self-defence. 

" I have the honour to be, etc., 

" Edm. Randolph." 
158 



Appendix 

To this letter of Secretary Randolph, Mr. Hammond 
replied, under date New York, September 3, 1794, 
that he should transmit copies of Mr. Randolph's letter 
by the earliest opportunity to General Simcoe and His 
Majesty's Ministers in England. 



THE END. 



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